Water, Water Everywhere and Nothing to Drink

Watching the Philippines Typhoon Haiyan videos, we see the people surrounded by flood water in the streets and in need of food and drinking water.

I couldn't find any strictly "water" related threads on ATS so I hope this one will gather everybody's input on finding potable water in a disaster aftermath.

Survival (not in the Preppy-style but moreso in the hobbyist-style) was my hobby forty years ago. I no longer have all my great books on the subject to refer to, so, will summarize from memory and experience.

1. Hot water tanks and even toilet tanks hold water so if caught at home, there's an obvious and ready source of water.

2. In deserts - go high, look low. Look for vegetation and soil colour changes indicating water closer to the surface than elsewhere.

3. Condensation - morning dew can be collected with any absorbant material and squeezed into a container, but another source of condensation is available if you happen to have some plastic.

Dig a pit - line it with a single layer of rocks - place a water catching container (pie tin shaped) in the middle of the pit - put sticks into the ground around it to form a circular fencepost arrangement - place the plastic over the sticks and bury the outside edges into the sand leaving a LOT of slack for the middle. Now, shape the plastic into a funnel-shape with the pointy part facing down into the water collecting container. This method can be used to distill salt-water as well.

4. Survivalist's water decontamination tablets, household chlorine (I forgot how many teaspoons per gallon) and boiling water can be used to decontaminate water.

5. Coconut water for the people in the Philippines except the storm knocked the nuts from the trees and washed them out to sea. There should still be some coconuts left stranded in the debris.

reply to post by Trexter Ziam


2 to 4 drops per US quart for bleach.
5.25 to 6 %
try to buy bleache without phosphates,dies or perfumes.

Edit....it SHOULD smell like chlorine...thats normal.


When surrounded by water thats not salt water....boil the hell out of it is what i do.
I try not to ever bring water when I camp....I boil lake and river and sometimes pond water.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


Thank you! I was looking up the 'recipe' and found this as well. Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water
which says,

Add 1⁄8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water, stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it.

reply to post by Trexter Ziam


Don't forget the drinking tube in the plastic lined pit still.

www.hunter-ed.com...

The output from these is limited, it is best to have several going to receive a useful amount. The drinking tube is to keep from taking the still apart every time you want a drink.

Vegetable matter, urine and even feces can be put in the bottom of the pit to increase output, the distilled water will be absolutely pure.

Problem with water in Philippines right now is sanitation. Since water in general is scarce, its not wasted on washing and bathing. Any standing water in pools and lakes is contaminated with raw sewage. The storm surge overflowed any sewage treatment facilities spreading it everywhere. Sewer pipes and outlets overflowed into the streets. The people are relieving themselves anywhere they can, their plumbing is a mess and that adds to the problem.

Like in Medieval times the streets become open sewers. As more people become weakened from thirst and hunger their immune systems are less able to fight off the plethora of plague diseases that lurk in all civilizations just beyond the siphon traps in your bathroom toilet.

I also want to add.
If you have advanced warning....fill up the bathtubs and sinks if possible.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


The best thing to do is boil water if you only have access to run off then use a rag to catch some of the crud. If you live at a high elevation you might need to boil it in a pressurized container. If you have an old thermos that is mostly metal that'll do.

The biggest danger with contaminated water is parasites/bacteria etc. If you don't have ability to boil water then you can put some bleach in. If you have both and want to be extra safe, boil the water and then add a few drops of bleach.

reply to post by intrptr


I like the stickless diagram on your link. It looks easier though less surface area and no heat collector rocks. The tube is nice if you happen to have one. Don't use brake fluid lines if your car broke down in the desert though.

Videos

1. This guy uses a small styrofoam cup and handiwrap. He ends up with a cloudless day and a mere 5 hours of distilling and at least one good gulp of water. He was on a lakeside with very moist soil. Free Emergency Solar Water Purifier

2. This guy uses a thermos of creekwater and mint leaves to decontaminate water a little bit. Survival Water Purification With Plants I can't vouche for this one. I would rather boil it first then make a mint tea.

3. This guy makes a solar still out of Florida swamp water. He lines his hole with plants (which add moisture to be collected from his dry-looking hole). How to Build a Solar Still Good one.

4. This isn't a still - this is about locating water in a desert. How to Find Water in the Desert and then Part 2 In his second video he strains his gulley water and then he says that the CDC says 8 drops per gallon for "clear" water and 16 drops per gallon for "murky" water. Let chlorinated water stand for 30 minutes before consuming.

5. This one is about sea water. We know we'll die of dehydration if we drink salty ocean water, and this video does use our water still as well as eating seawood and discerning edible from poisonous parts of seaweed.
Solar Still on Ocean and Obtaining Food

I might add, as a rule of thumb when caught adrift at sea - do NOT eat for as long as possible. Eating requires moisture in our systems to process the food and so do not eat until you have your water situation under control.

Look into fog collection:

FogQuest

reply to post by Trexter Ziam


Yeah boiling is usually the easiest way to make water safe for consumption.

Other ways are great and all but the thing with natural disasters and emergencies is that they are not always practical.

The most practical skill you can learn is one where you boil water at high altitudes(learn to make makeshift pressure cookers) and learn how to make a moonshine distillery.

One can save your life in short run and the other can make your life a lot easier if you need clean water for longer periods down the line.

Trexter Ziam
reply to post by intrptr

 

I like the stickless diagram on your link. It looks easier though less surface area and no heat collector rocks. The tube is nice if you happen to have one. Don't use brake fluid lines if your car broke down in the desert though.

Yep, lol. Vacuum hoses under the hood would be better. The ground solar stills are good if you are fixed in one pace for a while. For portability this one is better. It produces less water but can be made in a jiffy from any plastic bottle, dark rag, a knife and some sunlight. Many of these can be made from debris after a storm. Plastic bottles will be everywhere.

www.instructables.com...

Trexter Ziam
Videos

2. This guy uses a thermos of creekwater and mint leaves to decontaminate water a little bit. Survival Water Purification With Plants I can't vouche for this one. I would rather boil it first then make a mint tea.

I can assure you think is BS. I don't know what idiot dreamed this up but all mints (or any other plant) will do is make your water taste better. It might kill a few microorganisms but would certainly not purify water.

Otherwise the info in the OP and thread is pretty good. There are several plant sources for water including sycamore trees (very low sugar content making it drinkable without getting sick) and thistle stems.

Drinking cocoanut juice can give you severe diarrhea making dehydration even a worse problem.

Another option for finding water is to dig in the ground until you hit the water table. It will still need filtering and boiling but if at least 10 feet from open water it should be relatively safe as compared to any source of open water.

OrphanApology

The most practical skill you can learn is one where you boil water at high altitudes(learn to make makeshift pressure cookers) and learn how to make a moonshine distillery.

Do you have any links to instructions or videos to share with us on the high altitude differences? I'm a "flat-lander" and am not familiar with high altitude differences except that it takes longer to cook up there.

Thank you in advance for covering high altitude water survival and making a pressure cooker from scratch for us!

If possible try and locate magnifying glasses near hardware store / pharmacy if possible and get container fill with water and heat with magnified SOL LIGHT. Good thread thanks...

LIFE STRAWS ARE SO IMPORTANT. They are only 20 bucks and will last you basically as long as you need it. You will always have a source of water to drink with the straw. You can drink from standing pools of water with it!!

reply to post by Trexter Ziam


I'm not going to look up anything for you in regard to pressure cookers, you are more than welcome to do so yourself. Pressure cooker instructions might end me on a list and I have no reason to look it up as I already know how to make one.

The basic idea is that the higher the altitude the lower the boiling point in regard to temperature. When you increase the pressure on the water by placing it in a sealed container you raise the temperature needed to boil the water.

In very high altitudes water boils at lower temperature which means it won't sufficiently kill bacteria. That's why when canning food for safety reasons it's best to use pressure canning because botulism spores need temperatures higher than 212 to die.

If car batteries present not sure but maybe connect wire to ports and place wires into water filled non metallic containers maybe will heat not sure though...

QuikSnap
LIFE STRAWS ARE SO IMPORTANT. They are only 20 bucks and will last you basically as long as you need it. You will always have a source of water to drink with the straw. You can drink from standing pools of water with it!!

I had to look those up as I didn't know about them. Skipping all the commercial sites I found WIKI's short write-up on them. Thanks.

reply to post by Ophiuchus 13


If you are using battery cables....use it to make fire and boil the water instead.
Its easier and it works.

A plastic bottle with water can still go over a fire and will not burn through the plastic because of the water inside.....just don't put it in the fire....have it above the fire.

Don't over complicate things.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


Thanks, was not sure how well it would conduct if the wires where crossed in contained water. Make fire sounds plausible to 1...