Water, H2O, Agua... Don't eat yellow snow... or gray ice

To survive, you need water and food. Most people can survive weeks without food.. but your life span is measured in days without water… so today we will talk about water…The following is an excerpt from the FM 21-76 Chapter 4 Basic Survival Medicine, with a few Daddybare comments added…

Water
Your body loses water through normal body processes (sweating, urinating, and defecating). During average daily exertion when the atmospheric temperature is 20 degrees Celsius (C) (68 degrees Fahrenheit), the average adult loses and therefore requires 2 to 3 liters of water daily. Other factors, such as heat exposure, cold exposure, intense activity, high altitude, burns, or illness, can cause your body to lose more water. You must replace this water.

Dehydration results from inadequate replacement of lost body fluids. It decreases your efficiency and, if injured, increases your susceptibility to severe shock. Consider the following results of body fluid loss:

l A 5 percent loss of body fluids results in thirst, irritability, nausea, and weakness.

A 10 percent loss results in dizziness, headache, inability to walk, and a tingling sensation in the limbs.
l
A 15 percent loss results in dim vision, painful urination, swollen tongue, deafness, and a numb feeling in the skin.
l
l A loss greater than 15 percent of body fluids may result in death.

The most common signs and symptoms of dehydration are--
l Dark urine with a very strong odor.
l Low urine output.
l Dark, sunken eyes.
l Fatigue.
l Emotional instability.
l Loss of skin elasticity.
l Delayed capillary refill in fingernail beds.
l Trench line down center of tongue.
l Thirst. Last on the list because you are already 2 percent dehydrated by the time you crave fluids.

You replace the water as you lose it. Trying to make up a deficit is difficult in a survival situation, and thirst is not a sign of how much water you need.
Most people cannot comfortably drink more than 1 liter of water at a time. So, even when not thirsty, drink small amounts of water at regular intervals each hour to prevent dehydration.

If you are under physical and mental stress or subject to severe conditions, increase your water intake.

Drink enough liquids to maintain a urine output of at least 0.5 liter every 24 hours.
In any situation where food intake is low, drink 6 to 8 liters of water per day. In an extreme climate, especially an arid one, the average person can lose 2.5 to 3.5 liters of water per hour. In this type of climate, you should drink 14 to 30 liters of water per day.

With the loss of water there is also a loss of electrolytes (body salts). The average diet can usually keep up with these losses but in an extreme situation or illness, additional sources need to be provided.

A mixture of 0.25 teaspoon of salt to 1 liter of water will provide a concentration that the body tissues can readily absorb. Those little salt packs you get from the fast foods joints is perfect for this….

Of all the physical problems encountered in a survival situation, the loss of water is the most preventable.

The following are basic guidelines for the prevention of dehydration:

Always drink water when eating. Water is used and consumed as a part of the digestion process and can lead to dehydration.

l Acclimatize. The body performs more efficiently in extreme conditions when acclimatized. Take it easy when moving from low to high altitudes and vise-versa

l Conserve sweat not water. Limit sweat-producing activities but drink water.

Ration water. Until you find a suitable source, ration your water sensibly. A daily intake of 500 cubic centimeter (0.5 liter) of a sugar-water mixture (2 teaspoons per liter) will suffice to prevent severe dehydration for at least a week, provided you keep water losses to a minimum by limiting activity and heat gain or loss.
l
You can estimate fluid loss by several means.
A standard field dressing holds about 0.25 liter (one-fourth canteen) of blood.
A soaked T-shirt holds 0.5 to 0.75 liter.
You can also use the pulse and breathing rate to estimate fluid loss.
Use the following as a guide:

With a 0.75 liter loss the wrist pulse rate will be under 100 beats per minute and the breathing rate 12 to 20 breaths per minute.
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With a 0.75 to 1.5 liter loss the pulse rate will be 100 to 120 beats per minute and 20 to 30 breaths per minute.
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With a 1.5 to 2 liter loss the pulse rate will be 120 to 140 beats per minute and 30 to 40 breaths per minute.

Vital signs above these rates require more advanced care.

WATER PURIFICATION
Rainwater collected in clean containers or in plants is usually safe for drinking. However, purify water from lakes, ponds, swamps, springs, or streams, especially the water near human settlements or in the tropics.

When possible, purify all water you got from vegetation or from the ground by using iodine or chlorine, or by boiling.

Purify water by--
l Using water purification tablets. (Follow the directions provided.)

l Placing 5 drops of 2 percent tincture of iodine in a canteen full of clear water. If the canteen is full of cloudy or cold water, use 10 drops. (Let the canteen of water stand for 30 minutes before drinking.)

Boiling water for 1 minute at sea level, adding 1 minute for each additional 300 meters above sea level, or boil for 10 minutes no matter where you are.
l
By drinking nonpotable water you may contract diseases or swallow organisms that can harm you.

Examples of such diseases or organisms are—

l Dysentery. Severe, prolonged diarrhea with bloody stools, fever, and weakness.
l Cholera and typhoid. You may be susceptible to these diseases regardless of inoculations.

Flukes. Stagnant, polluted water--especially in tropical areas--often contains blood flukes. If you swallow flukes, they will bore into the bloodstream, live as parasites, and cause disease.
l
Leeches. If you swallow a leech, it can hook onto the throat passage or inside the nose. It will suck blood, create a wound, and move to another area. Each bleeding wound may become infected.


If the water you find is also muddy, stagnant, and foul smelling, you can clear the water--
l By placing it in a container and letting it stand for 12 hours.

l By pouring it through a filtering system.
Note: These procedures only clear the water and make it more palatable. You will still have to purify it.

To make a filtering system, place several centimeters or layers of filtering material such as sand, crushed rock, charcoal, or cloth in bamboo, a hollow log, or an article of clothing. Thick heavy woolen socks make a dandy filter… fill the sock with sand and pouring through the top collect the filtered water at the bottom.

Remove the odor from water by adding charcoal from your fire. Let the water stand for 45 minutes before drinking it…. Same deal as above… fill a sock with charcoal from your campfire and pour the water through the top… make sure you have a collection container underneath.

NOTE: if the wood you use has an Almond smell to it do not use as filter charcoal!

There is a trick I used to teach up at the Mountain warfare school… an easy way to desalinate or purify brackish water… what you do is boil said questionable water… over the top of that pot, place a tee shirt or other water absorbent cloth… the steam is safe water and all you need to do is wait until that shirt gets soaked just wring it out into a cup

Valuable info as always Daddybare, Copying this into my notebook ASAP.
Thanks

Water very important..

We have plenty of lakes around here, I will load it up in 5 gallon buckets and boil for 10 min. atleast.

reply to post by DaddyBare


The symptoms you have listed for signs of dehydration,I already
suffer from.I drink too much coffee and tea and not enough water
itself.Thank-you Daddybare for reminding me of my error.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Whoa! This is an awesome post. I've never seen the symptoms of dehydration listed so well before. I'm actually dehydrated, that's crazy!

Originally posted by Thestargateisreal
reply to post by DaddyBare

 

Whoa! This is an awesome post. I've never seen the symptoms of dehydration listed so well before. I'm actually dehydrated, that's crazy!

I hear ya...
A 5 percent loss of body fluids results in thirst, irritability, nausea, and weakness.
well better now that the doc's took out my glablader...still
I'm like that everyday so it would be hard to tell if I'm dehydrated

reply to post by DaddyBare


If you do not mind, I would like to also add something.

Edit: Never mind, you covered it and I missed it.

reply to post by DaddyBare


I drink somewhere between 5-8 16.9 oz bottles of water a day, yet according to the list I'm still dehydrated at times. I guess that I lose more water in physical activities than I thought I did.