Water

Water is one of your most urgent needs in a survival situation. An adult can survive for three weeks without food (fat reserve) but only three days without water. Even less if you live in a hot climate where you lose water rapidly through perspiration. Your body will need a minimum of 1 1/2 liters of water each day if you want to maintain efficiency ( high activity 2-2 1/2 liters). If you are in a survival situation your first goal is to minimize the loss of fluids while in search of a water source. Below are a few ideas to follow.

1. Breathe through your nose and not your mouth. Inside your mouth are saliva glands. Saliva is used to jump start your digestion proccess while your chewing your food. By breating through your mouth your drying it out and making your glands produce more saliva in sense drawing fluids from your body to moisten your mouth. Causing dehydration over a period of time.

2. Do all of your neccessary travelling, building shelters, etc at dusk and at dawn. The termperature is lower and will decrease perspiration output to cool your body down. Only travell at night when your on level grounds, or with night vision goggles.

3. Stay away from all alcoholic beverages (just say no to beer). Alcohol takes fluids from vital organs to break it down. Also will cloud your judgement.

4. Eat as little as possilble, the digestion proccess uses up fluids you can't spare.

Water Sources

1. Snow & Ice

2. Dew - Walk through the grass, vegetation with cloths attached to your ankles. Wring the cloths out every few minutes into whatever water storing devices you have.

3. If you are near cliffs and caves check for water crevices, check in large trees where water gets trapped in indentations in the tree.

4. Plant roots may contain water. Dig them up and slice open catch whatever water into your water storage devices.

5. Stills - You can use stills in various areas of the wold. They draw moisture from the ground and from plant material. You need certain materials to build a still, and you need time to let it collect water. It takes about 24 hours to collect 0.5 to 1 liter of water.

Aboveground Still

To make the aboveground still, you need a sunny slope on which to place the still, a clear plastic bag, green leafy vegetation, and a small rock. To make the still fill the plastic bag with air by turning the opening into the breeze or by "scooping" air into the bag. Fill the plastic bag half to three-fourths full of green leafy vegetation. Be sure to remove all hard sticks or sharp spines that might puncture the bag. Place a small rock or similar item in the bag. Close the bag and tie the mouth securely as close to the end of the bag as possible to keep the maximus amount of air space. If you have a piece of tubing, a small straw, or a hollow reed, insert one end in the mouth of the bag before you tie it securely. Then tie off or plug the tubing so that air will not escape. This tubing will allow you to drain out condensed water without untying the bag. Place the bag, mouth downhill, on a slope in full sunlight. Position the mouth of the bag slightly higher than th elow point in the bag. Settle the bag in place so that the rock works itself into the low point in the bag.

To get the condensed water from the still, loosen the tie around the bag's mouth and tip the bag so that the water collected around the rock will drain out. then retie the mouth securely and reposition the still to allow further condensation. Change the vegetation in the bag after extracting mot of the water from it. This will ensure maximus output of water.

Below Ground Still

To make a belowground still, you need a digging tool, a container, a clear plastic sheet, a drinking tube, and a rock. Select a site where you believe the soil will contain moisture. The soil at this site should be easy to dig, and sunlight must hit the site most of the day. Dig a bowl-shaped hold about 1 meter across and 60 centimeters deep. Dig a sump in the center of the hold. The sump's depth and perimeter will depend on the size of the container that you have to place in it. The bottom of the sump should allow the container to stand upright. Anchor the tubing to the container's bottom by froming a loose over-hand knot in the tubing. Place the container upright in the sump. Extend the unanchored end of the tubing up, over, and beyond the lip of the hold. Place the plastic sheet over the hold, covering the edges with soil to hold it in place. Place a rock in the center of the plastic sheet. Lower the plastic sheet into the hold until it is about 40 centimeters below ground level. It now forms an inverted cone with the rock at its apex. Make sure that the cone's apex is directly over your container. Also make sure the plastic cone does not touch the sides of the hold becuase the earth will absorb the condensed water. Put more soil on the edges of the plastic to hold it securely in place and to prevent the loss of moisture. Plug the tube when not in use so that the moisture will not evaporate.

You can drink water without disturbing the still by using the tubes as a straw. You may want to use plants in the hold as a moisture source. If so, dig out additional soil from the sides of the hold to form a slope on which to place the plants. The proceed as above. You will need at least three stills to meet your individual daily water intake needs.

Water Sources To Stay Away From!

1. Urine - Contains harmful body waste and is 3% salt.

2. Blood - Requires body fluids to digest.

3. Seawater - 4% salt. It takes about 2 liters of body fluids to rid the body of waste from 1 liter of seawater. Therefore, by drinking seawater you deplete your body's water supply.

Water Purification/Filtering/Distilling

1. Using water purification tablets.

2. Boiling water for 10 minutes. (kill bacteria)

3. Filtering system - Place several centimeters or layers of filtering material such as sand, crushed rock, charcoal, or cloth in hollow log, or an article of clothing.

4. Boil water in pot, use cloth to catch water vapour and ring out into water storage device. Boil water in pot with lid, hole in lid to allow a tube to carry water vapour to cool sealed container.

note: point 4 is good for proccessing urine, seawater, polluted water.

5. Commercial water purifying devices. "straws and pumps"