Hi, I'm doing a research project on swales for a long and narrow property and am trying to figure out the depth and width the swales should have. I've read the swales section in Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond Volume 2 by Brad Lancaster, but that doesn't answer my question. Basically the property is 1300m in length, with a slope of around 3˚and a field width of 250m. It's a pretty bare, sandy, stony soil and doesn't get much rainfall, but usually once a year there is a heavy precipitation event that can be up 100mm in one go. I'm looking at putting 4-5 swales in, for example under one plot that's 100m in length and 250m in width. How big should this swale be? All the literature I've read so far seem to be for small swales, but am I right in thinking these would need to be very wide and deep, like several meters? Thanks for the advice!
