An Explanation of Swales As a Design Element
I get a ton of questions on Swales many about things like will it create a marsh? Well, no, that doesn’t happen because swales spread water rather than concentrate it.
People ask about sealing swales to make ponds? Well, that would be a pond and a swale is too shallow for that. The questions keep coming and most seem to be trying to make a swale into something it isn’t, like say, can you raise fish in a swale? Well, no, because most of the time a swale is dry and doesn’t have water it, so they would all die.
This video is my attempt to give the viewer a greater understanding of what a swale is, how it actually functions and why we use them.
Also to explain that they are not right for every situation. They are but one design element and should be used only when they fit the land form and over all design strategy.
Note – I keep getting a ton of questions about the video quality going up. These are shot in 1080 at 60 frames per second on an iPhone 7. I discovered I can shoot that high and upload that high if I download the videos to my computer before uploading them to Youtube. It takes longer but the quality seems worth it. The iPhone 7 will actually shoot 4K video but the file sizes are just stupid and I don’t think Youtube will show anything higher than 1080 anway.
Additionally here is another video that is just a short walk on part of our property from yesterday, 3-9-17.
great conversation aroung the swale, or should i say a swell conversation about the swale! good to touch upon the benefits of good soil biology and the resultant soil structure, crumb structure that helps drain water, hold moiture andeliminate the need for irrigation. beautiful grounds cover in the marsh mallow, plantain, and vetch. great permaculture practice incorporating the trees outside the edge of the swale to capitalize on the available water. thanks
sstorch
Great explanation.
Sort of getting my head around swales now. How about this for a defination. A swale is a shallow near level ditch designed to drain rain water away from specific areas to prevent them from flooding and saturation due to heavy rainfall while also routing the water along to other chozen areas whereby the water is roued out of the swales across lower plains via lateral sills where it can spread out over and fertilize them with silt and (duck poo) before the finally filtered water can flow out of the lower plain and into a deeper ditch or road drain.
No that is a diversion drain.
A swale is a ditch on contour designed to slow, spread and infiltrate water. I can also be used to fill damns or control where damns over flow.
Swales don’t move water away from anything they evenly distribute it. I hope that makes sense.
Yes, I get the contour bit, I figure that Swales also act as a sort of ‘capacitor’ to store up water and release it at a slower rate which can prevent drains from flooding further down land.