Water can soon become an
extremely high priority when in a survival situation. The procurement of water
is extremely situational and weather Dependant. Just as a dessert can be an
extremely harsh and unforgiving landscape, the sea without any form of
desalination can be equally as unforgiving. Later on in this article we Discuss
SOLAR STILLS and DESALINATION.
I am sure everyone has felt the crippling effects of dehydration Therefore, in order to prevent dehydration, it’s important to find water to replace these lost fluids quickly. People often ask how much water do we need, if you ask a doctor he will probably say minimum of 2 liters of water each day to maintain efficiency. In a survival situation it is not that easy, we cannot just turn the tap. If you do have access to food twenty percent of your water need will come from the foods you eat.
Signs of Dehydration
Your Body is constantly using water and losing it from urination, respiration, and by sweating. If you are very active, you lose more water than if you are sedentary. So unless you need to be or have adequate water in a survival situation REST. Avoid Diuretics such as caffeine and alcohol although you are not like to have piping hot coffee and whisky in a survival situation because these will dehydrate you. Symptoms of mild dehydration include chronic pains in joints and muscles, lower back pain, headaches and constipation. A strong odor to your urine, along with a yellow or amber color indicates that you may not be getting enough water. Thirst is an obvious sign of dehydration and in fact, you need water long before you feel thirsty.
- In an Ideal world a human could potententially go 30 days without water but after 10 days you will struggle in doing even basic things.
Finding Water
Looking at the Signs
If you happen to come across a river or pond, then you must be aware that you must filter and purify any water that has been sat stagnant or is too far away from the ground source that the water may become compromised. Filtering
Water will always obey the laws of gravity and chances are the further you walk downhill the more likely you are to find a river. If you are on high ground descend for a better chance of finding water. Look for not only the large obvious sources of water but puddles cracks in rocks and anywhere that water could pool. If you look around and the ground is muddy or is moist to the touch , or if you see vegetation then these are good indicators that water is sustaining this so keep looking.
If you see a bee there is a water source within 3 miles of your location.
Animals need to Drink as well, look for tracks, where large amounts of track converge this is also a good indicator that water is nearby.
At Dusk and Dawn Birds will fly on a low direct path to a water source
Filtering and Purifying Water
Again the key to survival is using what you have available to hand. You probably will not have a coffee filter but you will probably be wearing some sort of clothing a T-Shirt or any form of Cloth can be used for making a very basic water filter. I must stress again at this stage that merely passing water through a T-Shirt will not make contaminated water drinkable it will only remove debris and particulates making the water more palatable.
An Easy trick to reduce the amount of particulates in water is to leave it stand for 30 minutes this should help the particles settle to the bottom.If you have coke bottle or cloth various survival water filters are discussed here Survival Water Filter
Boiling Is the Best and most reliable method of purifying water, and as reliable as a commercial backpacking water filter like the (MSR Water Filter). Boiling this is the most reliable method for killing microbes and parasites. Water must be kept at a rolling boil for several minutes. If you are at altitude you need to add 1 minute per 1'00ft above sea level. If you can use some kind of lid to quicken to process and it means less fuel.
If you are planning a backpacking or hiking trip it is essential that you take some form of water purification and if you expect that there will be a lack of running water then you must take a hand pump filter or a Millbank bag to remove the sediment from the water before treating it.
Chemical Methods of Purifying water:
Filtering water can be a good way to purify contaminated water but its effectiveness varies with the quality of the filter. It is important that the filter you choose filters viruses as well as bacteria, so check before buying. There are several different types of filter on the market and can be divided into three main categories.
Gravity filters
