Water is an exceptionally important design feature when designing permaculture sites. Where it comes from? how to store it? how to distribute it? and how will it exit a property? are just a few questions that arise in the design stage. Another question that arises frequently, especially on rural sites, is how much of the landscape should I dedicate to water use. A beneficial farming strategy for water and it’s use is to dedicate 12-20% of the landscape to water storage and distribution. This number is a baseline and of course a larger percentage can be utilized, especially in both drier and wetter climates. It is also good to note that when designing and building swales that they connect to ponds or other water features. This makes swales not only a tree growing, water harvesting system, but also a distribution link to larger water sinks in the landscape.
