8/5/2020 Swale (landform) - Wikipedia

Swale (landform)
A swale is a shady spot, or a sunken or marshy place.[1] In
particular, in US usage, it is a shallow channel with gently sloping
sides. Such a swale may be either natural or man-made. Artificial
swales are often infiltration basins, designed to manage water
runoff, filter pollutants, and increase rainwater infiltration.[2]

Contents A constructed swale or bioswale

built in a residential area to manage
On land stormwater runoff

On beaches
See also
References
External links

On land
This swale concept has also been popularized as a rainwater harvesting and soil conservation strategy by
Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton, and other advocates of permaculture. In this context it is usually a water-
harvesting ditch on contour, also called a contour bund.[3][4]

Swales as used in permaculture are designed to slow and capture

runoff by spreading it horizontally across the landscape (along an
elevation contour line), facilitating runoff infiltration into the soil.
This type of swale is created by digging a ditch on contour and piling
the dirt on the downhill side of the ditch to create a berm.

In arid climates, vegetation (existing or planted) along the swale can

benefit from the concentration of runoff. Trees and shrubs along the
swale can provide shade and mulch which decrease evaporation.
A natural swale
On beaches
The term "swale" or "beach swale" is also used to describe long, narrow, usually shallow troughs between
ridges or sandbars on a beach, that run parallel to the shoreline.[5]

See also
Bioswale
Contour trenching
Gutter

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Keyline design
Rain garden
Stormwater
Water-sensitive urban design

References
1. Chambers Dictionary, Edinburgh, 1998, p. 1668.
2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (2009). Storm Water Technology Fact Sheet:
Vegetated Swales ( EPA Document No. 832-F-99-006) (https://web.archive.org/web/2009072223452
4/http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/vegswale.pdf) (PDF). Washington, DC. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
3. "Water Harvesting: Microcatchment Contour Bunds" (http://www.fao.org/teca/content/water-harvestin
g-microcatchment-contour-bunds-ridge). Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
4. "Soil contour bunds" (http://www.mamud.com/Docs/contbu3e.pdf) (PDF). mamud.com. United
Nations Office for Project Services. 1998. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
5. "Wetlands of the Great Lakes Open Shoreline and Embayed Wetlands" (https://web.archive.org/web/
20100731181130/http://web1.msue.msu.edu/iosco/openshoreline.htm). Michigan State University
Extension. July 31, 2010. Retrieved September 21, 2009.

External links
Fact Sheet: Grassed Swales (https://web.archive.org/web/20070905033741/http://cfpub.epa.gov/npd
es/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm?action=browse&Rbutton=detail&bmp=75) from US
Environmental Protection Agency
Fact Sheet: Dry and Wet Vegetated Swales (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ultraurb/3fs10.ht
m) from Federal Highway Administration
Wetlands of the Great Lakes: The Beach Swale & Dune and Swale Types (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20100225053800/http://web1.msue.msu.edu/iosco/duneswale.htm) from Michigan State
University
Video showing swales used to rehabilitate desert terrain (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vn
WZmk)

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