WATER CATCHMENT AREAS 217 
between 390 and 421 feet elevation. The Council owns 
none of the land, but pays way-leaves for part of the 
gathering drains as permanent compensation, and pays rental 
for the rest. These gathering drains are not satisfactory in 
the absence of a reservoir and filters, as the supply is very 
intermittent, and at times would be quite insufficient, except 
for a temporary supply obtained by pumping from springs 
at Scalford. No other measures have been taken by the 
Council, who, however, contemplated a new scheme just 
before the war broke out. 
Boston Waterworks Company obtain their water supply 
from Miningsby Beck and Claxby Beck, with a gathering 
ground of 1920 acres, between 130 and 330 feet elevation, 
none of which is owned by the Company. The area 
comprises 1020 acres of hill pasture and moor, 100 acres 
of plantations, and 800 acres of arable land, with three 
small farmsteads and about thirty houses. “ Drainage from 
farms and buildings is carried into septic tanks and dis- 
charged over grass land before getting into the natural 
stream. Every house on the watershed is periodically 
visited, and any defects in the disposal of slopwater are 
noted and remedied.” The water is filtered. The Manager 
of the Waterworks, Mr. John Shaw, says that the 80 acres 
of plantations around the reservoirs at Revesby and Claxby 
Pluckacre are not an unmixed blessing, as the fall of the 
leaves perceptibly increases the albuminoid ammonia in 
autumn, when the prevailing wind blows large quantities 
of dead leaves into the water. He believes, however, that 
the trees attract moisture and prevent evaporation, as com- 
pared with cultivated land on their watershed. 
Scunthorpe Urban District Council is reported in Parlia- 
mentary “Return as to Water Undertakings in England 
and Wales,” 1915, p. 126, to obtain its water supply from 
an upland gathering ground over limestone of 1200 acres. 
The water is, however, an underground supply which is 
tapped by three borings at Roxby, Scunthorpe, and Rough 
