It is unclear how well the new reservoir performed. It had a capacity of , effectively doubling the amount of water the company could store. Bateman had estimated that the rainfall in the area would be per year, whereas records for a ten-year period showed that it was actually . Despite these facts, the company expressed disappointment at the yield it gave, and the "Newcastle Daily Journal", in an article sympathetic to the plight of the company published in September 1874, stated that there had been a miscalculation in the yield available. John Furness Tone wrote a letter to Newcastle Council stating that the capacity of the reservoir was reduced due to the fissured nature of the underlying rock in the area. He stated that Bateman had built the reservoir against his advice, which surprised the company's engineer, as Tone and Robert Nicholson had recommended the Hallington reservoir while working for the Whittle Dean Water Company.