TL;DR
A swale is a shallow, gently sloped channel graded into the ground to intercept stormwater and carry it away from structures or let it soak in along the way. Lawn swales are simply turfed depressions, while rock-lined or bioswale versions handle steeper grades and filter runoff through plantings.
What it means
A swale is a shallow, gently sloped channel graded into the ground to intercept stormwater and carry it away from structures or let it soak in along the way. Lawn swales are simply turfed depressions, while rock-lined or bioswale versions handle steeper grades and filter runoff through plantings. Graders typically fall them at one to two percent toward a discharge point, and filling one in during later landscaping is a common cause of new basement seepage.
Where it sits in the glossary
Swale is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
License: CC-BY-4.0 — quote freely with attribution to ProFix Editorial Team / ProFix Directory.