Basic Wilderness Survival Skills : Wilderness Survival: Safe Drinking Water

How to make a Solar Still

Making a solar still will enable you to obtain and purify water, even in very dry climates. Understand that only pure water evaporates, so that in the evaporation process, most of the impurities are left in the soil. Understanding the principles of the solar still will enable you to adapt to your own situation.

The idea for the depth of the hole is to dig down to where the soil is DAMP. Build your solar still in the lowest, dampest area you can find. At the base of a hill, in a dry streambed or at the base of a dried-up gorge. This is where ground water accumulates, thus being the best place for gathering it.

Long Term Water Storage

Perhaps the only thing more important than food in a long-term emergency is water.  Even the food you do have probably needs water to be cooked and eaten – especially dried beans and grains. Seriously, have you ever tried to bite into a dried bean? What is even more concerning is that water can be “bad” without anyone ever knowing it until it is too late! Crystal clear water can have dangerous bacteria growing in it, chemical run-off, and high levels of lead, mercury, or even arsenic!

Even if you store perfectly good water, storing it in the wrong way will mean that when you really need it, you will find yourself drinking poison rather than water. Just as critical as knowing how to store water, is the knowledge of knowing how not to store water.

What NOT to Use

• Non-food-grade plastic. While some people would say that all plastic is questionable, for long term storage, certainly non-food-grade plastic is definitely out. The plastic containers can leech dangerous chemicals into anything you store in them, degrade over time, and often are so thin that rodents, bugs, and other pests have no trouble finding their way into the container.
• Food grade plastic which has previously stored things other than food. While you may be able to get great cheap or free barrels through Free-cycle, Craig’s List, or scouting what is laying around your neighborhood, better to find another use for them besides food or water unless you know with absolute certainty what was in them before. Any kind of chemical (yes – including cleaners) could soak into the plastic and then soak right back out again into your long-term water storage.
• Food grade plastic which previously stored fruit, juice, syrup, or milk. Right about now, you are probably thinking – I know, I can use old milk jugs and juice bottles! Yes, they are plastic. Yes, they are food grade. But the sugars in fruit and milk are impossible to completely remove from the plastic, and can easily start your own Petri dish of bacteria over time. I am sure you will be able to think of another use for these (or at least recycle them), but water storage is not the thing.
• Any kind of cardboard. These easily break; soak up unwanted materials, or leak.
• Anything else contaminated. While you might think if you just wash it well enough then it will be fine, don’t take chances with your water – it is just too important! Other than glass, or stainless steel, which can be sterilized by boiling in hot water for at least 20 minutes, it is better to be safe than sorry.

How Much to Store

How much water you need will largely depend on a variety of factors:

• How many people are in your family
• The presence of water locally
• Average rainfall for your area
• If you have pets or other animals you will need to care for
• Whether or not any family members have special medical conditions
• How much activity you will be doing
• The temperature of your environment

BASIC SURVIVAL MEDICINE

This is taken from the US Army Survival Manual, therefore I do not have an external link readily available for you. If you would like a copy of the manual please post a comment below the article and I will email you a copy.

REQUIREMENTS FOR MAINTENANCE OF HEALTH

To survive, you need water and food. You must also have and apply high personal hygiene standards.

 

Water

Your body loses water through normal body processes (sweating, urinating, and defecating). During average daily exertion when the atmospheric temperature is 20 degrees Celsius (C) (68 degrees Fahrenheit), the average adult loses and therefore requires 2 to 3 liters of water daily. Other factors, such as heat exposure, cold exposure, intense activity, high altitude, burns, or illness, can cause your body to lose more water. You must replace this water.

Dehydration results from inadequate replacement of lost body fluids. It decreases your efficiency and, if injured, increases your susceptibility to severe shock. Consider the following results of body fluid loss:

• A 5 percent loss of body fluids results in thirst, irritability, nausea, and weakness.
• A 10 percent loss results in dizziness, headache, inability to walk, and a tingling sensation in the limbs.
• A 15 percent loss results in dim vision, painful urination, swollen tongue, deafness, and a numb feeling in the skin.
• A loss greater than 15 percent of body fluids may result in death.

The most common signs and symptoms of dehydration are–

• Dark urine with a very strong odor.
• Low urine output.
• Dark, sunken eyes.
• Fatigue.
• Emotional instability.
• Loss of skin elasticity.
• Delayed capillary refill in fingernail beds.
• Trench line down center of tongue.
• Thirst. Last on the list because you are already 2 percent dehydrated by the time you crave fluids.

You replace the water as you lose it. Trying to make up a deficit is difficult in a survival situation, and thirst is not a sign of how much water you need.

Most people cannot comfortably drink more than 1 liter of water at a time. So, even when not thirsty, drink small amounts of water at regular intervals each hour to prevent dehydration.

If you are under physical and mental stress or subject to severe conditions, increase your water intake. Drink enough liquids to maintain a urine output of at least 0.5 liter every 24 hours.

In any situation where food intake is low, drink 6 to 8 liters of water per day. In an extreme climate, especially an arid one, the average person can lose 2.5 to 3.5 liters of water per hour. In this type of climate, you should drink 14 to 30 liters of water per day.

With the loss of water there is also a loss of electrolytes (body salts). The average diet can usually keep up with these losses but in an extreme situation or illness, additional sources need to be provided. A mixture of 0.25 teaspoon of salt to 1 liter of water will provide a concentration that the body tissues can readily absorb.

Of all the physical problems encountered in a survival situation, the loss of water is the most preventable. The following are basic guidelines for the prevention of dehydration:

• Always drink water when eating. Water is used and consumed as a part of the digestion process and can lead to dehydration.
• Acclimatize. The body performs more efficiently in extreme conditions when acclimatized.
• Conserve sweat not water. Limit sweat-producing activities but drink water.
• Ration water. Until you find a suitable source, ration your water sensibly. A daily intake of 500 cubic centimeter (0.5 liter) of a sugar-water mixture (2 teaspoons per liter) will suffice to prevent severe dehydration for at least a week, provided you keep water losses to a minimum by limiting activity and heat gain or loss.

You can estimate fluid loss by several means. A standard field dressing holds about 0.25 liter (one-fourth canteen) of blood. A soaked T-shirt holds 0.5 to 0.75 liter.

You can also use the pulse and breathing rate to estimate fluid loss. Use the following as a guide:

• With a 0.75 liter loss the wrist pulse rate will be under 100 beats per minute and the breathing rate 12 to 20 breaths per minute.
• With a 0.75 to 1.5 liter loss the pulse rate will be 100 to 120 beats per minute and 20 to 30 breaths per minute.
• With a 1.5 to 2 liter loss the pulse rate will be 120 to 140 beats per minute and 30 to 40 breaths per minute. Vital signs above these rates require more advanced care.

Water Sources

The information in this following post is straight from the US Army Survival Manual (no external link provided)

Water is one of your most urgent needs in a survival situation. You can’ t live long without it, especially in hot areas where you lose water rapidly through perspiration. Even in cold areas, you need a minimum of 2 liters of water each day to maintain efficiency.

More than three-fourths of your body is composed of fluids. Your body loses fluid as a result of heat, cold, stress, and exertion. To function effectively, you must replace the fluid your body loses. So, one of your first goals is to obtain an adequate supply of water.

Water Sources

Surviving In The Forest

Techniques for staying ALIVE in every natural enviorment

The forest is a beautiful environment, which is why so many people go camping each year. However, it’s best to be prepared and know the fundamental survival skills of the forest. Here is a quick 9 step guide to survival in the forest.

1. STOP and Think

Use the Boy Scouts mnemonic device of “STOP”, which stands for “Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan”.

1. Retrace your steps.
2. Find a source of drinking water.
3. Create a fire.
4. Find or build a shelter before nightfall.
5. Fashion a weapon you can use for self defense.
6. Find a source of food.
7. Travel in one direction during daylight.

2. Retrace Your Steps (assuming you are lost)

If you’re lost the first thing to do is see if it’s possible to backtrack and retrace your steps to the last known path.
For the rest of these instructions, we’ll assume that you were unable to backtrack and that you are officially lost.

How to Find Water and How to Make Water Safe to Drink

WATER

The three basic necessities which sustain life are:
1. air,
2. water, and
3. food.

The Rule of Threes states that a person can live for:
three-minutes without air,
three-days without water, and
three-weeks without food.

Without water or any other fluids, a person will die in about three days.

Therefore, since water is one of life’s most basic necessities, it is a subject we should not take for granted.

Some Interesting Facts about Water and The Human Body

The Human Body:
60% of our body is water.
75% of our brain is water.
83% of our blood is water and it transports nutrients and oxygen to the cells of our body.

Water is necessary to properly digest food. (Note: If you don’t have water, then do NOT eat regardless of how hungry you become.)

Our urine is almost all water and it is how our body flushes and rids itself of toxic wastes.

Water facilitates normal bowel movements which helps prevent constipation.

In one day the average person loses between 2 to 3 quarts of water through their urine, sweat, and normal breathing. If a person doesn’t replace that lost water, then dehydration begins to occur.

At 2% dehydration, thirst is perceived.
At 5% dehydration, a person becomes hot and tired, and strength and endurance decrease.
At 10% dehydration, delirium and blurred vision become a problem.
At 20% dehydration, a person dies.

Pause and reflect on that for a moment. A person loses 2 to 3 quarts of water every day as a result of their normal body functions. This means, if a person doesn’t get any fluids for about three days, they WILL die.

Most people have never thought about the above because they have NEVER been personally confronted with an extended shortage of fresh safe drinking water at any time in their lives.

Some More Facts about Water