Typical maintenance problems and activities for wet swales
Typical maintenance problems and activities for wet swales
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| Inspection Focus | Common Maintenance Problems | Maintenance Activity | Recommended Maintenance Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drainage Area | Erosion of catchment area contributing significant amount of sediment | In case of severely reduced drawdown time, scrape bottom of basin and remove sediment. Disc or otherwise aerate/scarify basin bottom. De-thatch if basin bottom is turf grass. Restore original design cross section or revise section to increase infiltration rate and restore with vegetation as necessary. | Upon identification of drawdown times longer than 48 hours or upon complete failure |
| Site Erosion | Scouring at inlets | Correct earthwork to promote non‐erosive flows that are evenly distributed | As necessary |
| Unexpected flow paths into practice | Correct earthwork to eliminate unexpected drainage or created additional stable inlets as necessary | As necessary | |
| Vegetation | Severe weed establishment | Limit the ability for noxious weed establishment by properly mowing, mulching or timely herbicide or hand weeding. Refer to the MDA Noxious Weed List | Bi‐monthly April through October |
| Vegetative cover | Add seed/plants to maintain ≥95% vegetative cover. | Bi‐monthly April through October | |
| Pretreatment | Pretreatment screens or sumps reach capacity | Remove sediment and oil/grease from pretreatment devices/structures | Minimum yearly or as per manufacturer's recommendations |
| Vegetative filter strip failure | Reduce height of vegetative filter strip that may be limiting in‐flow. Re‐establish vegetation to prevent erosion. Leave practice off‐line until full reestablishment. | Mow grass filter strips monthly. Restore as necessary |