Swales can be useful where you want to slow, spread, and sink water gently across a slope. They are often best suited to broader landscape plantings, tree systems, and sites where infiltration is the goal.
They are a bad idea when:
- the soil is unstable or slips easily
- the slope is too steep
- overflow is poorly planned
- water will be pushed toward buildings, roads, or neighbours
- the site really needs drainage rather than infiltration
- someone is copying a template without understanding the catchment
In some places, a spoon drain, diversion drain, mulch basin, infiltration pit, or simply better groundcover is the more appropriate move.
Swales are not permaculture magic. They are one tool among many, and bad water design is expensive.
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