The Pocket Outdoor Survival Guide: The Ultimate Guide for Short-Term Survival (10 page)

 

No longer can you trust the water found in backcountry, no matter how remote or how clean the water appears. Treat all water before drinking.

 

There once was a time when it would have been unnecessary to include a chapter in this book on how to make water found in the backcountry safe for drinking, but those days are gone. Today there are few areas left where one can trust the quality of the water and be safe in doing so. Therefore, it behooves every backcountry traveler to learn the skill of making water safe for drinking, especially those who might possibly face a survival emergency.

Survival is a stressful period in a person’s life, and the need for pure drinking water is important. The body is approximately 75 percent water, and the intake and output of liquids are necessary for normal functions of the vital organs.

Daily water requirements, a minimum of two quarts, help maintain proper balance and efficiency within the system of the body. During cold weather, breathing alone releases a lot of moisture from the body. Perspiration also releases moisture. Any lower intake of water results in gradual dehydration. Losing water to the extent of 2.5 percent of body weight, or approximately one and one-half quarts of body water, will reduce your body’s operational efficiency 25 percent. This loss could be deadly in a survival emergency.

There are many myths about water purifying itself in the outdoors. One popular theory is that water, swiftly running over, around and through rocks purifies itself. Do not believe it. This is not a valid hypothesis. Another myth claims that if clear water sits in the sun for an hour, the germs are killed. Again, this is untrue. Nature produces clean water, but once it becomes unclean, rarely does nature clean it again. It is your responsibility to treat questionable water.

Never trust water from an unknown source. If you do not know the source of your water supply, do not trust it. Some of the diseases you may contract by drinking impure water include dysentery, Giardia, cholera and typhoid. The best way to be assured of having safe water is to carry enough with you to use for drinking. However, in an unexpected survival situation of several days, this is not always possible. It is on these types of emergencies that water treatment knowledge is a must. Here are several methods for treating questionable water:

Boiling Water —
One of the best methods for treating water is the boiling method.

Boiling water for 10 minutes will produce germ-free water for drinking or cooking. Since boiling leaves water with a flat taste, you should pour it back and forth between two containers several times once it has cooled. This aerates it, giving back its natural taste. A vessel for boiling water can be formed from the aluminum foil in your survival kit.

Water treatment tablets such as Potable Aqua should be in all survival kits.

 

Commercial Tablets —
Drug stores and outfitter stores usually have halazone tablets or Potable Aqua tablets for the treatment of water. A bottle of the tablets fits nicely in the individual survival kit. Both do an excellent job. Halazone tablets have been used successfully for years. Add two tablets to a quart of water and follow with a 30-minute wait. The newer product, Potable Aqua, requires one tablet to a quart of water, capping loosely to allow a little leakage. Wait three minutes and shake thoroughly. Wait 10 minutes before drinking. If the water is very cold or contains rotten leaves or silt, use two tablets and wait 20 minutes before drinking. You can use the gallon resealable plastic bag in which your survival items are packed for a water container. Also, the plastic bag in which the tube tent is packed makes a good water container.

Clorox Treatment —
Clorox, the washing bleach that makes clothes sparkling white, is another excellent water treatment. To each quart of questionable water add 10 drops of pure Clorox. If for some reason the water is cloudy, add 20 drops. Next shake the water vigorously and let it sit for 30 minutes. There should be a slight chlorine odor and taste if the water is properly treated. If not, add another 10 drops of Clorox and let the water stand for an additional 15 minutes.

Iodine Treatment —
While iodine is no longer used in some of the newer first-aid kits, it is still in older kits and makes a good water treatment. Simply add five drops of iodine to one quart of clear water and 10 drops to cloudy water. Let water stand for 30 minutes before drinking.

At this point I should point out that anytime you are treating water in a canteen, jug or other type of container, you should be sure to rinse the cap, spout, screw threads, lid, etc., with some of the treated water. You do not want to miss treating any surface that may come in contact with your mouth or the water you are drinking.

Water Filtering Devices —
There are a number of compact water filtration units, such as Pur, Katadyn and MSR that can give the backcountry traveler safe water. They have been proven to filter out Giardia and other harmful threats and the unit fits into a pack easily.

Getting Water Under Extreme Cold Conditions —
Anytime you are traveling under frigid conditions, you should take along a reliable backpack stove. Once you have the stove going, look for sources of water. Whenever possible, melt ice for water rather than snow. You get more water for the volume with less heat and time.

Water filtering devices are good for making water safe to drink. If there is room, they are a good item to have in your daypack.

 

 

Remember, snow is seventeen parts air and one part water. If you melt snow by heating, put in a little at a time and compress it, or the pot will burn. If water is available, put a little in the bottom of the pot and add snow gradually.

Glacial ice gives roughly twice the water per fuel unit in half the time that snow does when melted. In addition, snow more often contains dirt, soot and animal and human contaminants. Do not try to eat ice or snow. A day or two of taking water in this manner produces a swollen, raw mucous membrane in the mouth, which may become painful enough to prevent eating or drinking until the inflammation subsides. Dogs eat snow and get away with it; humans cannot. Once you have water, give it the boiling treatment.

Collecting Rain and Dew for Drinking Water —
When surface water is scarce, dew can be collected off plant leaves, vehicle surfaces, tube tent surface, etc., with a cloth and squeezed into a vessel. Some dew can be collected on the underside of a plastic sheet spread on the ground during the night.

If it rains, collect water by funneling runoff into your gallon plastic bag. A rain suit can be used to catch rain by digging a hole in the ground and lining it with the jacket. This assumes, of course, that you will stay dry in your tube tent or shelter.

Getting Sediment Out of Water —
If clear water is not available, take the following steps:

• 1. Filter the water to be treated through a clean handkerchief or similar fabric.
  
• 2. Let the filtered water stand until any remaining sediment has settled to the bottom.
  
• 3. Pour off the clear water into the vessel which you plan to treat it in, and then treat the water.
  

 

We can live for weeks without food to eat. Avoid the temptation of eating wild foods such as insects unless you are well trained in identification of wild foods.

 

Every time the subject of survival is brought up, the first discussions usually revolve around edible wild foods and how to procure them.We are obsessed with eating. It has been proven many times that most of us can go without eating several weeks, if necessary, and not die. Most of us carry around an abundance of fat that could keep us alive for a long period of time. For this reason, and the fact this book was written for the most likely survival scenario of spending less than 72 hours in the woods, we will not cover the many edible wild plants and animals that are available in North America.