Catchment

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkatʃmənt/

Definitions

1. A region or landscape that gathers and channels rainwater to a specific location for storage and usage
2. An area that collects natural precipitation and surface water, guiding it to a designated storage point for multiple purposes
3. A geographic zone from which water flows into a river or reservoir ; the area from which people are attracted or served by a school, hospital, or other service provider

Etymology: "Catchment" is a plain English formation: the verb "catch" plus the suffix "-ment," which turns a verb into a noun for the result or area of an action. The sense is literal and physical. A catchment is the ground that "catches" rainfall and channels it toward a river or reservoir, and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve in Singapore, which holds the MacRitchie Reservoir, takes its name from exactly that use. The same logic later stretched the word beyond water. Because a school, hospital, or other service draws people from a surrounding area in much the way rain drains into a basin, the term came to describe the population that such an institution serves. A school's catchment is the set of families entitled to attend it, and a hospital's catchment is the people it is expected to treat. The metaphor moves from a landscape to a community while keeping the idea of an area gathering something toward a single point.

Synonyms: drainage, watershed, catchment area, basin, receptacle