How Do You Get Water In A SHTF Scenerio?

Originally posted by AMANNAMEDQUEST
Plastic or tarp hung up and made funnel shaped a bit. In the mornings, the dew will condensate on the liner and drip down into a bucket. I think I saw that on some zombie movie. I might test it to see if it works.

This works as I have done it in survival training in the military. However, that only works above ground if there is a lot of relative humidity in the air.

If you are in a dry environment you must first dig a rather large hole to create the convective heat to draw the moisture from the ground itself.

You use the tarp in the same manner just put it over the hole and put your water collector in the hole at the bottom of the apex of the tarp.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


I would use as clean a cloth material to capture rain when possible drain cloth in container and drink. May be a little dirty but will be water.

my advice - a katadyn pocket

and a unbrakable plastic bottle of 80% hydrogen peroxide - add a cople of drops per litre after filtering and it will make water safe from any bio hazard

the only thing you need to wory about is avoiding drawing from a source contaminated by chemical polutants

PS - the hydrogen peroxide can be used for debriding wounds - messy and painfull - but it will prevent a potentialy fatal infection you may not be able to treat

reply to post by Creedo

1) Drink your urine... yes its nasty but will save your life.

that is the worst advice EVER - it will exacerbate your dehydration - not ease it

The distillation method, in an emergency, still works well. Take two clear plastic containers of equal size. Half fill one with your contaminated water. Tape the necks together, ensuring that the contaminated water remains in its allocated conrainer. place the set up on the ground, in direct sunlight, at a slight angle, the contaminated container lowermost. Cover the empty container with something to shield it from the sun and wait.
Come back after a day of so. Seperate the two containers, ensuring that there is not cross contamination. The once empty container will now contain fresh drinking water.

This method also works to recycle urine. Trust me. It works.

reply to post by ignorant_ape


I totally agree. Never drink urine. Not even as a last resort. Fresh urine is sterile and as such is great for cleaning wounds, but to drink, it will make you ill.

Filter or distill it.

Originally posted by Onet Wosix
a makeshift water filter, is to take a pair of trousers, jeans

put one leg inside the other,

tie the bottoms of the legs

so that you are making a 'double lined bag'

pour water in, and what comes out is filtered to some extent

in an emergency it makes rough water a bit more drinkable if you dont have access to boiling / filtering equipment

I want to add to this persons post..

Considering earthquake i am assuming you cant cook in a conventional way so..

To filter water you run it through sand charcoal sand charcoal(you can add more but mostly useless after this point.) and then boil it over a fire..

This will make any water drinkable. if you can get some iodine that would also help in sterilizing also but boiling the water usually works.

Originally posted by mutantgenius
Your hot water tank is also full of water. Find natural springs in your local area. I know where mine are and use them frequently for drinking water and stocking up. I also read somewhere that adding bleach to your water is helpful in killing bacteria etc. It was a very small amount, like a teaspoon for 10 gallons or something. I suggest you google it if you are interested.

Well said and a star for you sir!

You beat me too it.

I was staying a good friends house and he showed me how you can drain it.
It's remarkably easy and clean too!
An exception to this is if it's piped into a central heating radiator system, it's a lot less useful water in that case:



You should occasionally drain your hot water tank to get rid of calcified elements that'll affect it's performance from time to time...

Originally posted by TheLoneArcher
The distillation method, in an emergency, still works well. Take two clear plastic containers of equal size. Half fill one with your contaminated water. Tape the necks together, ensuring that the contaminated water remains in its allocated conrainer. place the set up on the ground, in direct sunlight, at a slight angle, the contaminated container lowermost. Cover the empty container with something to shield it from the sun and wait.
Come back after a day of so. Seperate the two containers, ensuring that there is not cross contamination. The once empty container will now contain fresh drinking water.

This method also works to recycle urine. Trust me. It works.

edit on 16/2/2011 by TheLoneArcher because: As usual, this post was edited due to the pathetic spelling skillls of The Lone Archer.

edit on 16/2/2011 by TheLoneArcher because: As usual, this post was edited due to the pathetic spelling skillls of The Lone Archer.

This is interesting, I've not heard that variant method before.
So I assume it would look something like a 'U' bend joining up the two containers?

reply to post by WatchRider


i'm imagining the soda bottles mouth to mouth lying on their side.

also:

www.findaspring.com...

Go after the rich people, don't do anything else just B-Line directly for corporations and the rich people.. Water be there friend, water be had.

Originally posted by TheRemedial
Go after the rich people, don't do anything else just B-Line directly for corporations and the rich people.. Water be there friend, water be had.

I would not bet my life with that statement. A big enough catastrophe happens the rich who are used to getting what they want may be in for a rude awakening. If supplies aren't there, they aren't there regardless of the money you have. I will not risk my families life relying on others no matter who they are. RELY ON YOURSELF !!!

I wouldn't trust water from the river either because after the quake you don't know what has leaked into the water
upstream A filter may get the pathogens out but what if there is cyanide or something in there?
I don't think that boiling it would be safe even from the chemicals.

As said before water heaters are full, toilet tanks, maybe swimming pools in back yards.
Go to a large building and tap into the pipe in the basement and there should be large amounts still in the lines that will gravity feed to you.

I rely on city water first, and I have a 1300 gallon small pool that's useful also & my water heater.
If those are all empty then I have to rely on 2 artesian wells in the hills to get water from and we have a small year round river that runs 10 miles away. We don't have any industrial areas or any worries about contaminates here so I am not worried about that.

Think outside the box if needed. Those trucks that pump out porta johns or whatever they call them where you live carry a couple hundred gallons of fresh water to refill the johns after they pump out the crap. Boil it and you have good water

reply to post by WatchRider


No, you would tape the two container necks together. The set-up would look rather like a dumb bell.