page_title: Swithland Reservoir
section_title: Water provision
hierarchical_section_title: Swithland Reservoir / Water provision
caption_attribution_description: English: Pump house on Swithland res. An early morning view on a dull day.
context_page_description: Swithland Reservoir is a reservoir in the English county of Leicestershire. It is north-east of the village of Swithland from which it takes its name, north-west of Rothley and approximately 133 metres south-west of Mountsorrel Quarry. It is part of the 187.1-hectare Buddon Wood and Swithland Reservoir Site of Special Scientific Interest.
context_section_description: The dam is 404 yards long and is 26 feet wide at the top and 48 feet wide at the base; It was constructed of concrete and water-clay. A draw-off tower, alongside the dam wall originally abstracted water for the six gravity filter beds behind the dam wall, which have a total area of 75,000 square feet, surrounding a clear water tank. Water was pumped from the storage tank to the 2 million gallon capacity Hallgates reservoir, and from there it traveled through a water main to the lower reservoir at Oadby via gravitation. Today raw water from Swithland Reservoir is pumped into nearby Cropston Reservoir and receives treatment at the Cropston Works before being put into Hallgates Service Reservoir.  Several of the buildings at Swithland Reservoir are listed, with much of the pumping station site Grade II listed.
  The capacity was initially stated at 600 million gallons (100 million gallons more than was originally envisaged), and was thought sufficient to serve a population of 300,000. Early operation of the reservoir was not without difficulties; While it had been envisaged that it would be sufficient to serve Leicester for 20 years, by 1898 further supply capacity from Derbyshire was needed, and the reservoir was considered by some to have been a failure. In 1909 supply to Leicester was temporarily halted due to "vegetable growth" caused by warm weather.
caption: The draw-off tower, alongside the dam
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