214 FOEESTS, WOODS, AND TEEES 



Higham Ferrers and Rushden Water Board obtain their 

 water supply in part from an upland gathering ground of 

 1747 acres at Sywell, between 260 and 400 feet elevation. 

 The Board own only 65 acres immediately adjoining the 

 Sywell storage reservoir. The gathering ground, of which 

 I have not been able to obtain any definite particulars, 

 appears to consist of arable land and pasture, with 

 habitations and farmsteads upon it. Besides filtration, no 

 special measures are taken to prevent contamination of the 

 gathering ground. 



Kettering has two catchment areas: (1) Cransley, about 

 1800 acres, and (2) Thorpe Malsor, 1330 acres. The 

 Urban District Council have been able to purchase only 

 the actual sites of the two reservoirs and a small 

 margin round them, the land now owned at the Cransley 

 waterworks being 73 acres, and at the Thorpe Malsor 

 reservoir 60 acres. Mr. T. Eeader Smith, the engineer 

 in charge, in his interesting report in Journ. Sanitary 

 Instit. xxii. 479 of 1901, explained that the catch- 

 ment areas, being agricultural land with numerous farm- 

 steadings and other buildings, were much too expensive 

 to purchase. In order to keep the area in a proper 

 sanitary condition, the Council obtained powers, in the 

 Kettering Urban District Water Act, 1901, Section 30, 

 to make bye-laws for this purpose. Under clause 4 of 

 this section, the Council are liable to pay compensation 

 to owners and other persons interested, who may be 

 injuriously affected by any restrictions imposed by such 

 bye-laws. The Council instituted enquiries and ascer- 

 tained that other water authorities, with similar powers 

 in their water acts, had refrained from making bye-laws 

 because of the expense to which they might be put on 

 account of the various compensations that might be 

 demanded. The Kettering Council is still in the position 

 that while it has power to make bye-laws, none have as 

 yet been made. Meanwhile, the Council merely keep an 

 oversight over the catchment areas, making inspections from 



