Water!

Here's the scenario,

A world changing event has happened, the small town I live in is being beseiged by 1000's of hungry mobs from the major city nearby. I can no longer guarantee the safety of my family.

I grab my basic gear and take my family as far away from people as I can, the terrain is temperate woodland, open fields but it's quite flat. It's early summer around 19 centigrade and not likely to rain.

The 5 litre camel pak I'm carrying runs out on the first day. I can't see a stream or any signs of a body of water.

My wife, baby and I each need approximatly 2 litres of water a day to stay healty thats six litres I have to magic from somewhere! How would YOU collect your water in this situation. Collecting dew off the grass in the morning, trying to catch condesation isn't going to collect 6 litres per day!

I am in one of the better British infantry regiments, and what we are taught to do in this situation only justs provides enough (around 600 millilitres a day) to keep you going for upto a week, solar stills, condensation traps etc.

Please post your novel ways of collecting water here, after all without enough water we ALL DIE very quickly. Regardless of whether you have a big shiney knife!




[edit on 27/1/07 by Jimmy1880]

You are correct. Alot of focus is on food and hunting and self defence, but without potable water your done in a rapid amount of time.

You have actually mentined the most obvious methods the solar still

Really easy to make if you have some plastic and its summy. While you can make them out of any container, another method seldom mentined (taught to me as a boy scout by a bone a fied Navajo) is to find adry river bed or wash, and dig down and then cover with plastic and the moisture in the ground will evaporate out. If you have standing water you can be even more efficent. You ave to set up alot of them to get buy.

That's the problem!

To carry enough polythene sheet to make enough solar stills would take up my whole survival kit.

Are there any other methods I'm not thinking of

This is the only really difficult part of survival, all other aspects of survival rely on determination and patience.

Gather Fruit and vegtables, the juices will hydrate you and can make up for any water shortage.

Lettuce is almost all water!

[edit on 1/27/07 by mel1962]

Originally posted by Jimmy1880
That's the problem!

To carry enough polythene sheet to make enough solar stills would take up my whole survival kit.

Not that much space. A roll of the stuff (even if its got a decent thickness to it) is not that big. Also a solar still requires you to stay in the same location so if you mobile you are SOS. Short of an existing water supply you might be ou tof luck.

Fruits and vegetables will help but you woul dbe hard pressed to get enuf water into your system without making yourself sick in the process

Originally posted by Jimmy1880
I grab my basic gear and take my family as far away from people as I can, the terrain is temperate woodland, open fields but it's quite flat. It's early summer around 19 centigrade and not likely to rain.

If you know in advance where you plan to “hideout” you can conceal caches of supplies. I have several 5 gal. containers filled with potable water. You can also hide your plastic sheeting and anything else you may need. Water collection can be slow, so having extra can mean the difference between hydration or dehydration.

Keep in mind, if you do use a hidden cache, be sure to check on it periodically as someone else may come across it.

PLANNING !

given the scenario you describe :

you SHOULD have planned waypoints - in every direction

ie starting from your town , if all the rioting is in the north of your location - the obvious tack is to head south

with wife / child - you can manage what ? 2 miles / hour ?

where are you going to stay night one ? - you should have this preped before you step out the house

even if your night one bivvy is LESS than the max distance you COULD travel

assuming you have proper filters / puritabs - you can find water within 6 hours trek in any part of europe

you have to know where it is - and plan your escape route first

even in an urban / semi urban environment - there is water availiable that others will overlook

ie - toilet cisterns - unless they have chemicals in them - they will be fine once filtered through a katadyn pump

once you are in the country :

cattle troughs litter farms -

and streams / ponds abound - find an area on a 1:25000 map that does not have a stream / pond within 5 miles - in the uk or germany

i dont know your location exactly - as a presume you are statioed with BAOR

but there is water out there - and your job is to know what water is in the path of your planned escape route - and what SENSIBLE tabs you have to make to leap from one to the next

The thread was really meant to make people write the ways they intended to colect water in the given scenario. I probably just didn't make that clear, I'm not writing about me personally.

Thanks.

appologies - i got the wrong end of the stick

though on reflection - i suppose my comments would apply to anyone

you should ALWAYS have a plan - it may not survive contact with the enemy , but the plan of your primary escape routes should be broad enough to allow for detours

add to that general awarness training on local terrain - the recources and hazards it holds

Carry more than 6 litres. If this is not feasible.

You can live 3 days without water. Divide the water you have into 3 portions and reduce consumption to 2 litres per day for all three of you. This will give you 3 days to find water.

The route should have been planned with that in mind and included going past a stream, or a park that has a water fountain, a gas station where they have water made available for cars or someplace where you could refill.

The other alternative I see is digging for ground water at the base of a hill or look for where there has been runoff, provided you have a means to boil or purify it.

Plants and fruit will not give you the amount you want.

Last but not least… pray for rain and if and or when it rains collect as much as you can. If there is snow melt it.


[edit on 30-1-2007 by Siren]

Well this is kind of gross and perhaps not practical but there must be a way of recycling urine, I mean seafarers lost at sea were reported to just drink it. This is not something I had considered doing but modern filter systems would this be possible from a practical stand point.

I've posted this tip many times in other survival threads, and I still stand by it. It may not be the cleanest water out there, but it will keep you alive. If you dig at the base of trees or bushes, you will find a puddle of water. It will have mud and other impurities, so pouring it into a cloth will help filter it a little. The water can be boiled after being filtered for added protection. You can pretty much keep a steady supply of water this way, especially if you're in an area where it rains atleast every couple of weeks.

You can also tie a plastic bag around a living, attached tree limb (complete with foliage), and let the evaporated water condense in the bag. Poke a hole to drink or store the water in another container.

The water produced by this method tastes evil, even if you remember not to decant from a poisonous tree, but water is water in a survival situation.

Originally posted by wcssar
Well this is kind of gross and perhaps not practical but there must be a way of recycling urine, I mean seafarers lost at sea were reported to just drink it. This is not something I had considered doing but modern filter systems would this be possible from a practical stand point.

Don't do this. You're not just drinking water. If the situation devolves to the point where this is your only apparent source of water then you are already dehydrating. In that case your urine will become highly concentrated (high levels of urea and other waste chemicals) and you will be outputting very little, if any, urine. Your kidneys are approaching shutdown. Drinking urine, if you're even making any, will accelerate that shutdown.

Agreed. The salinity of urine at the point of dehydration would be no better than drinking sea water. Sea water might even be healthier, but once you reach this point, it's likely that urine or sea water will only keep you sustained for another few hours.

yes, i said you could and people had .but the point of the submission was what could be done to purify urine. i have been thirsty but sofar no that thirsty .

Solar stills can be used to purify any fluid except for radiator fluid. Keep in mind that a solar still is only an emergency measure.

The still also has the ability to purify tainted water. In fact, it condenses pure water from just about anything. Even urine will produce clean, drinkable water. (CAUTION: One fluid never to be used is radiator fluid, as its toxins will vaporize and poison the water.)
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