Lowtech Graph lists low-tech options for every need of a home. Here you can compare them, find tutorials to build them, and link them together into a circular system. Why low-tech?

Flood mitigation

Keeping floodwater out of the house. Water arrives either as a river or as runoff from uphill, and the two are answered differently. The options differ in whether they lift the house above the water or steer the water around it, and in how much earth has to be moved.

Solutions

• Elevated finished floor level: The ground floor built higher than the level floodwater or groundwater is expected to reach. The house sits on a raised base, so water can pass or rise around i
• Diversion swale / intercept ditch: A shallow ditch dug across the slope above the house, gently tilted so it carries water sideways. Rain running down the hill is caught and led around the house
• Deflection berm (splitter wedge): A compacted earth mound set upslope of the house with its apex pointing uphill, so a surge of water, mud or debris is split and passes down either flank rather