Swale Desk Field notes on swales and yard drainage. One desk, three numbers.
Season Fall storm season in much of the US: Sep–Nov. Photos of a wet yard are most useful taken during or just after rain, with a ruler in the puddle.

Contact

Email the desk at desk@swale.top. Corrections get a dated fix on the page and a note in the ledger. Yard questions get the three-number checklist, not a sales pitch — the desk sells nothing.

Checked 2026-09-10

What to send for a correction

  • The page URL.
  • The exact figure or sentence in question.
  • The source that says otherwise — a code chapter, manual page, or manufacturer sheet, with a link or photo.

Corrections that arrive without a source are read and weighed, but a stamp only moves when the desk can open the document itself.

What to send about your yard

  1. Grade of the wet area — measured, not eyeballed: how to measure.
  2. Percolation rate — one presoaked hole: how to test.
  3. Catchment — roof planes and yard area feeding the spot: how to count.
  4. Photos: the wet spot during rain, the downspouts, and the uphill view.

Three numbers and four photos beat a paragraph of adjectives every time.

Response time

Within a week, usually sooner in storm season. If a question is about a foundation, footing, or retaining wall, the reply will say one thing: find a local engineer. That is the refuse list working.

Sources

  1. Minnesota Stormwater Manual — About the manual — supports the manual this desk corrects against.
  2. Google Search Central — Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content — supports the content-quality standard corrections are held to.
  3. US EPA — Stormwater discharges from municipal sources — supports the municipal stormwater program corrections most often touch.