by Liz
In every survival situation, whether you are stuck in a vehicle or your home after an event such as an earthquake or storm occurs, water is essential to your staying alive.
Carrying at least 3 gallons of water in your vehicle is a preferable amount as anyone with enough experience can tell you and is a necessary requirement, not less than that as one would normally believe.
Depending upon where you live in the country will determine just how much water you may actually want to have on hand.
Should you live in Arizona or Utah where the heat can reach excessive temperatures during the day and plummet to below zero temperatures, you will likely lose several pints of water by the time the sun sets and this is without much exertion and therefore you will need the water to keep your body hydrated and stave off heat stroke (hyperthermia) and/or freezing to death (hypothermia).
In desert regions, the sun bakes and therefore it will cook not only your car during the warmer months it will also cook your brain and should you have to change a tire, dig out of a wash or even have to walk for any distance in even mild temperatures to reach help then you will lose enough water through your breathing and sweating that a mere gallon may not or will probably not be enough to keep you hydrated or even rehydrate you if you are already low on water which happens to be the case for many people in the United States.
In other areas that are cooler or, rather, not desert-like the need may still be the same and you should take such factors into consideration. If the conditions are so extreme as to cause a long-term situation of 6 months to several years, then the need to find water would become even greater and you would have to seek other sources for getting water such as the back of a toilet tank, a water pipe, animal waterers and so forth after proper disinfection has taken place.
To disinfect water, you can add 5 or 10 drops of 2% Iodine tincture, depending upon how dirty the water is is how much you will use, the clearer it is the less you need of the tincture, shake it up and then let it sit for 25 to 30 minutes before drinking.
Just make sure that the water you are going to treat does not have chemicals such as those which are placed in the back of a toilet tank that clean the toilet with every flush which means you will have to distill the water instead to prevent drinking down various sorts of deadly chemicals and killing yourself in the process.
If you find the water has been treated with chemicals then you can distill it by placing a pot of water over a heat source and finding a way to extract the rising steam into another container such as a cup in the center of the pan by using a string attached to the center of an upside lid placed atop your cooking vessel or using molded aluminum foil with a string or using other objects which would allow the steam to drain toward an awaiting container which is clean and safe for drinking from.
Should you be in a location where there is enough sun to heat up a jug full of water then you can attach clear tubing to the jug at or near the top, seal around the tube coming out of the container and allow the steam to vent and drip down into another container which is, again, clean and safe for drinking from.
Although some would say that you can drink your own urine, this is not true as it will cause vomiting and the number of impurities in your urine are not to be taken lightly not to mention that urine is acidic and if you have ever experienced or seen the after-effects of urine on human skin you will know that it burns so you will definitely want to avoid drinking it until you have distilled it.
It may seem disgusting or gross to distill urine but all that will come out of urine during distillation is pure, consumable water and to avoid dying from dehydration it would be far wiser to drink the pure contents of distilled urine than to suffer the consequences of wishing that you had.
Also, doing so will also give you enough time to find other sources from which you can replenish what little water you will have left in your body taking into account that your breath and body are going to be giving off or losing moisture every minute and you will be hydrated only so long before you will have to find or make drinking water from one or another sources.
If you were to vomit from drinking your own urine or from impure water then you will lose water and that and diarrhea which comes from certain bugs found in most water are what you want to avoid if at all possible, so remember to distill your water when in doubt or you know that a source should not be ingested.
{ 15 comments }
More good information from knowledgable guest posts and M.D. Thanks again!
Good post liz, the only thing I would add is elctrolytes. Sweat,diarrhea, all cost you salts. If you find yourself dehydrated, chances are good you also need elctrolytes. sport drinks and mixes are way to heavy on sugars, dilute to 1/2 or even 1/3. I keep sugar and salt packets in my first aid kit, 1 pack sugar and 1/2 pack salt to 500ml water make a good source of elctrolytes. When I worked in county government our safety class instructor reccomended a ketchup packet as a source for elctrolytes, as he also taught wildfire response I filed this under plan C
Good info Liz…….
Just wanted to add one thing about desert areas. Spent some time there camping privately, as well as military training, and you are 100% right, you will lose a lot of water throughout the day even if you are not really active.
If you are in a desert like environment and have to travel on foot, your best bet is to do this at night. The ambient light from the moon and stars makes it pretty easy to see when your eyes adjust. Also, you will hardly loose much through sweat compared to what you would during the same distance in daylight.
So find a shady, breezy spot to chill during the day, and march at night.
Good luck to all.
Dean in Mich……
Heating water with chemical impurities in it and capturing the water into another container is not a guarantee that it will get chemicals out of it. Different chemicals will behave differently that others at higher temperatures. It is very possible that some of the chemicals would collect on the cover and make their way into the 'clean cup' just as the water does.
Distilling water from a nasty scummy pond is a good plan and will result in clean water. But anytime their are chemicals in the water, you are adding many variables (unknowns) and without testing, have no way of knowing the safety of it.
I would avoid any water with chemicals, but if I "had" to use water with chemicals, I would do the following:
1. Treat with bleach or chlorine (2 or 3 times the typical amount). Leave it uncovered for a couple of days while stirring occasionally. Pool or spa shock is a great cleaner to use because it will oxidize impurities in the water and they will be destroyed/bound to the chlorine/shock.
2. Run through a Berkey or other high quality filter that is known to remove chemicals, heavy metals, etc.
But as I said, I would rather get stagnant water than chemical water. And remember that if it is stagnant water in a high-trafficked area, it could still have chemicals in it form run-off.
Regards,
Bret
Any suggestions on the best way to thaw a gallon jug of frozen water? I live in an area where keeping water in the truck from freezing is an issue for several months
-K
HAS ANY BODY EVER USED COLLODIAL SILVER TO PURIFY WATER?FROM JAY IN NC
The run-on sentences are killing me! Editor! Editor!
In response to anonymous on thawing a gallon jug of water that you're carrying in your truck. Well, the bed of the truck, provided you have a canopy and hopefully one that is lined with a barrier of some sort, when the axle is turning it creates a lot of heat, a very hot heat, which comes right up through the box where you could place a container on with a slice of plywood (1/2-inch or so thick) underneath which could be an option for you. My dad and his friends used to tie a jug or bottle of appropriate size inside under the hood when they were going to be driving down the road but they were careful about it as they didn't want to get it caught up in any moving parts or breaking, losing their supply. They always made sure to check the bottle every few miles until the melting process started so they wouldn't explode the bottle and then bring the container inside the cab, setting it on the floor board where the heat is strongest which is where the hump in the middle is or about where their toes would sit on the floor and sometimes wait until they got just the right amount for a few swigs. Although metal soaks up the cold you now know you may be able to use your vehicle as a prime source of warmth for getting the melting process going, letting that melted water help thaw the rest of your water along with your interior cab's heat.
In response to Bret Ebey, it is not advisable to use pool or other cleaners with bleach for they are not the same as bleach. To use more bleach is not going to do much more than require a longer period of time for the bleach to dissipate which you may not have time to wait during an emergent need for water. You should study pool, toilet and other (deadly chemical) cleaners and consider safer methods/means instead of risking losing your life or the lives of others. Please rethink using too much bleach and avoid using chemicals you are definitely not familiar with. Maybe study chemistry and what those chemicals do to the body, especially internally. Bleach will burn your throat and those pool cleaners will destroy it not to mention that it will blind you if you get any in your eyes. Please take more care and I wish you luck should you attempt using such things.
Bret brings up a good point about distilling with chemicals. Best rule, get water without chemicals. If you don't have any choice, remember, water boils at 212 degrees F. Chemicals boil at a higher or lower temperature. If you have a thermometer (that goes that high and you trust), don't capture the vapor until it reaches 212 (+/- depending on altitude). Capture vapor until you get close to the bottom, then dump the rest. Rinse the pot carefully before starting again. Of course, we're guessing where to stop before the higher boiling stuff gets into the distillate. Once you get all the water the temperature will go up, but you won't see it until after you have boiled some bad stuff into your cache.
TO JAY IN NC:
I have, and after looking at the before/after under microscope it appeared to work & I have used it in the treatment of viruses and it is pretty good at knocking out colds/flu. I used 2TBS per gallon of water.
Those British Berkefeld Super Sterasyl filters use silver in them and they only certify against bacteria – it claims no viral protection. Colloidal Silver (at least the brand I use) would also be an expensive method of water treatment.
So I'm pretty sure it would work in a pinch, but Polar Pure is a heck of a lot cheaper $13+/-and will treat around 500g of water and it has a great shelf-life.
THANKS N.D. FOR YOUR INPUT.I HAVE USED IT FOR A FLU/COLD RMEDY ALSO.I HAVE USED IT SINCE 1999 FOR THIS TREATMENT.I DONT SEE THIS TALKED ABOUT HARDLY AT ALL,THATS WHY I POSED THE QUESTION.FROM JAY IN NC
iodine tincture?
You can buy water purification tablets, they are cheap and will purify contaminated water in case of an emergency.
We are looking for a way to use sea water for drinking and what approach to use.
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