WATER CATCHMENT AREAS 215 
time to time to see that reasonable sanitary conditions are 
maintained; and for so far this is said to have worked 
satisfactorily. The water collected from the catchment 
areas is filtered, and undergoes a chemical examination 
quarterly. Nevertheless, the conditions are not ideal, as 
may be inferred from the following account supplied me by 
Mr. T. Reader Smith. 
The catchment areas are geologically Northampton sands, 
which contain a great deal of ironstone, worked by open 
quarrying. In 1917, the Cransley area contained ap- 
proximately 790 acres of arable land, 830 acres of grazing 
land, and 88 acres of woods, and the Thorpe Malsor area 
contained approximately 620 acres of arable land, 630 
acres of grazing land, and 34 acres of woods. On the 
Cransley area there are numerous habitations, including 7 
large houses, a corn-mill, 16 cottages, and 3 separate cow- 
sheds and yards; and besides, allotment ground and 
ironstone workings. On the Thorpe Malsor catchment 
area there are 4 large houses, a public-house, 8 cottages, 
and an isolated cowshed, besides some iron workings. I 
have no information how the sewage from the human 
habitations, cow-houses, etc., is diverted from the water 
that eventually finds its way into the reservoirs. 
Loughborough obtains its water supply from two areas 
in the Charnwood Forest district, with a total extent of 
3917 acres. Nanpantan reservoir, on the Woodbrook 
stream, has a gathering ground of 1050 acres, with 9 
habitations and farmsteads upon it. Blackbrook reservoir, 
on the Blackbrook stream, near Shepshed, has a gathering 
ground of 2867 acres, with 32 habitations and farmsteads 
upon it. The Corporation own no part of the two areas, 
but “all farms and occupied premises are inspected period- 
ically to ensure that the sewage and other sources of 
pollution are properly dealt with, and the water courses not 
contaminated.” The water is filtered. I have not been 
furnished with any deseription of the gathering grounds, 
which as regards afforestation are probably similar in their 
