catchment

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English[edit]

WOTD – 20 May 2017

Etymology[edit]

MacRitchie Reservoir, which is located in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve in Singapore

catch +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

catchment (plural catchments)

  1. (often attributive) Any structure or land feature which catches and holds water; the collection of such water.
    • 1864 June 9, “[Minutes of Evidence.] Samuel H. Gael, Esq., Called in; and Examined”, in Report from the Select Committee on Sewage (Metropolis); together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix and Index (Reports from Committees: Eleven Volumes; 10), volumes XIV (Session 4 February – 29 July 1864), [London]: [His Majesty's Stationery Office], →OCLC, page 132, column 1, paragraph 3191:
      Do you think that there ought to be some board or some authority for each catchment basin, which must be appointed with adequate powers to prevent the pollution of streams?
    • 1889 May 19, “[Minutes of Evidence.] Mr. T. W. Russell”, in Report from the Select Committee on the Bann Drainage Bill; together with the Proceedings of the Committee, and Minutes of Evidence (Reports from Committees: Eight Volumes; 1), volumes IX (Session 21 February 1889 – 30 August 1889), London: Printed by Henry Hansard and Son; and published by Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding-street, London, E.C., and 32, Abingdon-street, Westminster, S.W.; Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, North Bridge; Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and Co., 104, Grafton-street, →OCLC, pages 27, column 1, paragraphs 515 and 517:
      [paragraph 515] Now let us come to this point: you are quite clear that serious evil exists in this union of navigation and drainage? […] [paragraph 517] And you are also clear that one obstacle is the taxation of the catchment area, and that it needs some plan to be devised for meeting it, although this plan may have defects?
    • 1890, “Section XXII. Irrigating Works should not be Constructed by the General Government”, in Report of the Special Committee of the United States Senate on the Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands. Report of Committee and Views of the Minority (United States Senate, 51st Congress, 1st session; report 928, part 1), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 128:
      The catchment area is the slope of a great mountain range covered with fine forests, and there are many good reservoir sites.
    • 1998, “Preface”, in Carol Kendall, Jeffrey J. McDonnell, editors, Isotope Tracers in Catchment Hydrology, Amsterdam: Elsevier, →ISBN, page vii:
      Isotope hydrograph separations determined by simple conservative-mixing models have shown repeatedly, in a variety of climactic and hydrogeologic environments, that streamflow generated during rainfall or snowmelt is derived primarily from water stored in the catchment prior to the event, a surprising insight that has profoundly changed how hydrologists view the runoff process. […] Catchment hydrology is more than just the study of water, or rocks, or biota – it encompasses the physical and biogeochemical interactions that control the hydrology and biogeochemistry of the system.
    • 2015 fall, Michael R. Walker, “Monumental Task”, in BYU Magazine‎[1], Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, →OCLC, archived from the original on 1 March 2017:
      Every mountain in Petra has carved water channels in the indigenous stone that catch the seasonal erosion floods. Every building seems to be positioned to maximize water catchment.
  2. A catchment area, or the people it serves.
    • 2003, Robin Haynes, “Geographical Access to Health Care”, in Martin Gulliford, Myfanwy Morgan, editors, Access to Health Care, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 17:
      The Hospital Plan first set out the objective: a network of large district general hospitals, each providing specialised medical and surgical facilities for a catchment of 200,000 to 300,000 population […].
    • 2003, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, “Choosing and Integrating Participation Tools and Techniques into Flood Mitigation and Management Processes”, in Guidelines on Participatory Planning and Management for Flood Mitigation and Preparedness (Water Resources Series; no. 82), New York, N.Y.: United Nations, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 99:
      The publication of regular newsletters providing updates of floodplain management activities and distributed to individual residents in the catchment is an effective means of keeping the community informed.
    • 2020 January 2, Graeme Pickering, “Fuelling the changes on Teesside rails”, in Rail, page 61:
      In August 2019, Redcar & Cleveland and Middlesbrough councils announced details of a joint project, supported by TVCA to build a new park and ride station on the Whitby line between Nunthorpe and Great Ayton. The two councils say the station would have a population catchment of 70,000 from local towns and villages.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

catchment area — see catchment area

Verb[edit]

catchment (third-person singular simple present catchments, present participle catchmenting, simple past and past participle catchmented)

  1. To divide into catchment areas.
    the catchmenting of mental health services

Further reading[edit]

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