Water In The Wilderness

Water is essential to all life. Good thing, then, that three-quarters of the planet is covered with it. However, having said that we’ve all been on trips where we’ve discovered to our surprise we didn’t pack enough water. This article will attempt to illustrate some of the more practical methods of both finding and making water safe to drink.

Finding water:
You can find water anywhere from the temperate forests to the arid deserts, all you need to know is what to look for:
1. Green Vegetation,
2. Rock crevices,
3. Animals & birds (they will often stick close to water) ,
4. Valleys and low areas of natural drainage,
5. Muddy or damp ground,
6. Erosion around the base of rocks,
7. Dried-up driver beds and streams.

Collecting Water:
OK, so you think you’ve found water, might be a stream or river or maybe even a freshwater lake. But what if you’re miles away from the nearest river, or that the lake you thought was so fresh in fact turned out to be filled with shopping trolleys and litter? The following is simply a (non-inclusive) list of some of the methods that can be used to gather water in the wild.

Condensation Trap:
One of the simpler ways to gather readily drinkable water is called a condensation trap. Simply, it uses a clear plastic bag (this may be a polyethelene bag or ziplock bag). Place the bag over the foliage with the mouth tightly closed against the steam/branch with one corner of the bag pointing downward to collect the condensed evaporation.

Choose the biggest and most lush vegetation as this is the healthiest. Plants tend to release less around mid-day when they try to reserve moisture in the hot sun than during the afternoons and evenings. The same principle can be applied to whole bushes if your bag is big enough.

Cut a round hole in the bag approximately the size of the main stem of the plant (big enough so that you are able to place the bag over the plant) and close the opening (either tie or hold it down with a stone).

Dig a small ring around the plant roughly the width and depth of your hand. Place over the whole plant depressing slightly where you have dug the ditches so that condensation will run off into them. This type of setup provides most water but can be difficult to collect.

(A typical Condensation Trap. Right: A Condensation Trap which encompasses a whole plant.)

Dew Trap:
Condensation Traps are good, but what if the vegetation is too high or there isn’t enough of it? A Dew Trap works in most environments. It consists of digging a small roundish hole (usually 1 to 2 feet in width and depth). In the bottom of the hole place a container, cover with a clear plastic sheet. Place earth on the sides of the sheet to stop it from moving (but not enough to create shade in the hole) then place a stone onto the sheet above the container.

In the morning the sun will heat the inside of the hole with the bag acting like a greenhouse, the moisture will evaporate and condensate once it touches the bag, the water droplets will then run down and gather at the lowest point above the container before dripping into it.

(Above: A typical Dew trap. Note that the cup can be anything which holds water.)

Leaf Still:
If you find that your travels take you away from greener areas you can still make water on the go. All you need to do is to fill a clear plastic bag with green leaves (doesn’t have to be full, a rule-of-thumb is about ¾) and secure the opening, making sure you’ve got as much air into the bag as possible.

Leaving this bag out in the sun will evaporate all the moisture in the leaves which will gather in the bag, simply reopen the bag and pour out the water into a container. (Ziplock bags work perfectly for this.)

(Above: A Leaf Still. These can be left on any warm surface as long as its in the sun.)

Dabbing:
If there’s a lack of vegetation in your area you may have to search for water under the ground. The best places to look for below ground water are at the base of cliffs, in dried up river and stream beds, and in the bottom of valleys–anywhere water would naturally drain. Dig down a few inches and usually the earth becomes moist.

The easiest way to gather this moisture is to dab a piece of cloth or absorbent material into the earth, then ring it out over a container. This won’t be the cleanest or best tasting water you’ve ever tasted, but it’ll quench your thirst until you can get to a more readily accessible source.

Rain:
Simply putting a cup out in the rain will also gather water for you; however it is often noted that this water is turbid and is the perfect place for water borne critters to live. A funnel can help gather more water; this method is very good if you don’t need it for drinking or cooking but for bathing or simply watering your garden.

Moisture from the air:
There are many places on earth where simply hanging a piece of cloth at ground level will soak it in water vapor. Putting sheet of cloth out during the morning when the air is heavy with moisture (mist and dew) is an easy way of collecting clean water. Alternately, wait until the morning then brush a cloth against long grasses coated in morning dew and wring it out over a container.

Purifying the water:
“Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.” Now that you’ve got water you will want to make it safe for drinking, cooking, bathing, etc. First, we’ll look at what hidden dangers water can contain and then how to purge the water of them.

Water Contaminants:
There are 5 basic water contaminants. These are below:

Turbidity: This is water which is murky or cloudy because it contains particles of chemical and organic matter. Disturbing a water source will often make it cloudy with sediment, which can wear out water filters and leave a layer of silt in your canteen if not washed thoroughly. The easiest way to avoid it is to pick the clearest water source.

Parasites: These nasty critters would love nothing more than to lodge themselves in your digestive tract. They cause all sorts of nasty disorders such as bilharzias, dysentery, hookworms, and giardiasis. Some of these organisms are relatively large.

Bacteria: These are some of the most lethal water contaminants, causing diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery.

Virus: These are some of the smallest annoyances that can carry some nasty stuff, such as hepatitis, A&E, and polio.

Chemicals: These are most likely run-off waste from farming (such as pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers), but are usually highly diluted. In some areas the water can contain large amounts of fluoride; this is simply due to the rock the water naturally filters through and is not health damaging.

Water naturally contains trace amounts of: barium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and silicon. These are all naturally present in purified water so they’re nothing to worry about. In some areas there may be an excessive amount of radium, which is a radioactive element.

Cleaning the Water:
When it comes to purifying water you have 5 main methods:

Boiling:
This is by far the most widely used and trusted method. It requires that the water be brought to the boil for approximately a minute. (Note: Near sea level a vigorous rolling boil for at least one minute is sufficient. At high altitudes (greater than two kilometers or 5000 feet) three minutes is recommended.)

Boiling kills many micro-organisms but does nothing to neutralize chemical contaminants. Boiling “hard” water (water which is high in calcium salts) will result in the container being lined with deposited calcium carbonate, which is nothing more than an annoyance.

(Above: You can boil water in anything that won’t melt or catch fire before the water boils.)

Filtering:
Next to boiling, filtering is the second most trusted method of water purification. Usually made of charcoal, these filters actively absorb many toxic compounds making them good for filtering chemically contaminated water. Some filters contain traces of silver ions which act as a weak anti-bacterial agent, but are often more sensitive to the turbidity of the water.

(Above: NASA make a sturdy portable water filter built into their stainless steel cups.)

Distilling:
Distilling provides 99.9% pure water, and it is the best way of ensuring the water you have is free from sediment and many bacteria. It consists of boiling water and allowing the water vapor to condensate and run off into a separate container. The run-off is the purest water that you can naturally collect without the use of ionization equipment.

Distilling is used in areas where the water contains high amounts of radium, which is mainly a problem in parts of Eastern Europe. The problem with distilling, however, is that the distilling pot can harbor to some nasty bacteria (such as Legionnaires’ disease). Since there is nothing to dilute it after the process, it can be lethal if not treated correctly.

A thorough wash and treatment with iodine will often ensure the container is safer, but the best thing to do is to try and use it as infrequently as possible and do as much as the container can hold. A good tip is not to let the container boil dry, but to leave at least 1/3 to ¼ of the water and dispose of it over soil rather than back into your water source.

(Above: You can buy several portable water distillers. This model has a smaller container within the outer jacket, and it works fine for producing up to 1/5 liters.)

UV Radiation:
A cheap and easy way to kill off many micro-organisms is to expose the water to a prolonged dose of UV radiation. Leaving a bottle of suspect water out in the sun is a sure way of making it safer to drink, but is not a replacement for boiling or chemically treating it.

(Above: Leaving water in a clear glass or bottle in the sun can not only give it time to separate any sediment but also kills bacteria.)

Chemical:
Lastly we arrive at chemically treating water. There are several products out on the market, but the main types are chlorine based and iodine based. Each has its own pros and cons.

Chlorine is very good at killing bacteria and works well at helping to further separate any sediment. However, during the purification process chlorine gas is released, and if significant quantities accumulate it can be toxic.

Iodine pretty much kills off most waterborne bacteria and viruses, but it also works to neutralize many of the harmful toxins which may have leaked into the water source (such as fertilizers from agriculture). It is also not advised that iodine not be used long-term, so use it only until a cleaner source can be found.

Both taste equally nasty, though iodine has a more of a bitter taste. Luckily a chemist in Germany found a way of neutralizing the taste to make it more palatable, so now you can buy neutralizing tablets just for comfort’s sake.

(Above: Chlorine, Neutralizing and Iodine tablets.)

Storing Water:
Alrighty, time to settle an on-going debate: you can store water indefinitely, provided it has been distilled and is kept in a clean container. You can combine a mix of techniques such as boiling then chemical purification if you’d, like but distilling is by far the best and surest. Water only “goes bad” when bacteria are introduced into the water; they use up all the oxygen in the water and it stagnates.

If you’re looking to store water long-term, distill it and put it out of direct sunlight into a non-degradable container. That rules out most plastics as they will degrade and contaminate the contents with flakes of plastic. It’s also a good idea to label and date the bottle, stating what methods were used on the contents and when they were bottled. Try to use up the older bottles first as this will shorten the exposure to risk of contamination from external influences.

Bibliography:

• The SAS Survival Guide John “Lofty” Wiseman (Pages 40-48)
• Water Purification & Conservation in Arid Environments
  Mattheus F. a. Goosen, Walid H. Shayya (Pages 185-190)
• Wilderness-survival-skills
  (http://www.wilderness-survival-skills.com/findingwater.html)
• Helium (http://www.helium.com/tm/101781)
• AAA Wilderness Survival
  (http://www.geocities.com/aaawildernesssurvival/water.html)