Lifesong

                             Wilderness

                           Adventures ©2008

Water is the second most important factor in survival, right behind shelter.

Hypothermia and dehydration are two major considerations in a survival situation.  Lifesong Adventures shows you how to locate, filter, purify, carry and store water.  Water borne diseases are on the increase.  Giardia has become one of the most ardent organisms to attack the human system and can leave you debilitated.

Locate

Cattails, rushes, cottonwoods, willows = water.  These water loving plants are good indicators water is not far.  Animals and birds will also show you where water is, follow them.  Keep in mind animals can consume water humans cannot. 

Filter/Purify

You can use cloth to filter particles etc.  after which you can boil the water, do so for at least five minutes to kill Giardia.  There are also commercial applications for purifying water. 

Collecting Dew is one way to obtain water.   Sponges absorb dew and can then be squeezed into a container for consumption.  Hopefully your sponge is fairly clean!

Lifesong Adventures instructs you how to build a solar still, even though it is not

as practical for wilderness survival applications as it is for disasters.  It is fun to see how it works and it is a very useful for those who frequent the desert.

From Wikipedia: 

"A solar still is a very simple way for distilling water, powered by the heat of the sun.   A few basic types of solar stills are cone shaped, boxlike, and pit. For cone solar stills, impure water is inserted into the container, where it is evaporated by the sun through clear plastic. The pure water vapor condenses on top and drips down to the side, where it is collected and removed. The most sophisticated of these are the box shaped types. The least sophisticated are the pit types.

Solar still built into a pit in the ground.

Solar stills are used in cases where piped or well water is impractical, such as in remote homes or during power outages. In Florida and other hurricane target areas that frequently lose power for a few days, solar distillation can provide an alternate source of clean water."

One quick and practical solar still is to wrap a plastic bag around the leafy or needled branch of a live tree.  The transpiration from the leaves or needles provide water which drips into the bag.

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