Book Name: The Outdoor Life EMERGENCY Survival Guide Author: Byrn Dalrymple This is Chaper 3, beginning on Page 14 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Where to Find Water IN ANY CLIMATE where severe cold does not drain energy, you can live for many days without a single bite of food. The length of time depends to some extent upon how much physical energy must be expended. Starving to death is not as dangerous as finding yourself without water. Charts have been compiled showing average life expectancy without water. Temperature is crucial here. Even in the desert, where you may encounter extreme high temperatures to well above 100 degrees, a man who remains quiet in shade can go without water a short time. Expectancy would be from two to three days. At moderate summer temperatures in woodland latitudes, say from 50 to 75 degrees, death might not occur for ten days, but before that a man would become too sick to help himself. Water is the most important factor in survival, regardless of where you are. It is estimated that at 110-degree temperature,, an inactive person lives for 5 days if he has available 2 quarts of water per day, a total of 10 quarts. At about 75 degrees he has a chance of quadrupling his life expectancy on the same 10 quarts. But these are bare minimums and this is also a substantial quantity of water. At a moderate temperature a person even mildly active needs an average of 2 quarts of water per day. That's 3/ gallons per week. Strenuous exercise, such as hiking, will run the need higher. Water Supply Obviously no one can carry that much water, except by horse or motorized transport. In any desert trip, you should know where water sources are and carry as much water as possible. If a vehicle is used, a copious supply should be stored for emergency. Then, if a breakdown occurs you should stay with the vehicle to conserve energy. Fortunately, over the major share of the land mass of this continent where emergencies may occur, water supply is not a great problem. The large forest tracts, the vast Canadian bush all have many lakes and streams. But having pure water may be a problem. Even high-country rivulets may be polluted, for example, by a dead animal lying in them. The old idea that water swiftly becomes pure as it runs a few yards in sunlight over a streambed is nonsense. Happily, on trails in many State and National Forests water has been tested at springs or other sources and signs designate whether or not it is fit for drinking. But in an emergency you cannot count on finding one of those. Thus it is best to purify all water. once a partner of mine got off his horse, drank deeply from a clear stream, and looked up to find a dead deer a few yards above in the creek. Especially in lower elevations, or in desert country where water may stand, purification is a must. Purifying Water Halazone tablets were mentioned earlier. Directions for use are given on the bottle. Iodine is also a purifier, with 2 to 4 drops per quart sufficient. Tablets used by the Armed Forces for water purification are available, too. There are other purifiers, such as chlorine, but those noted are easiest to carry and handiest for treating small amounts of water. However, situations may arise where no chemical purification is possible-you have failed to go pre pared, or have lost or used up the chemicals. Boiling water is the simple old wilderness standby. Many sources suggest boiling hard for at least five minutes. I'd suggest not being too eager. No harm is done by boiling twice as long, and even more to assure purity. Remember that altitude makes a big difference in how long it takes to bring water to a boil, and how hard it will boil with a given amount of fire. Although water is seldom difficult to find in snow country, injury may make it necessary to stay put, or available water may be distant, and so snow must be used. If snow is plentiful, dig away the top layer, and use that underneath. It will be cleaner and more compact. A substantial amount of snow is required to melt down into a couple of quarts of water. If fuel for your fire is any problem, never fill a container brim full of packed snow and then begin to melt it. Melt a small amount and keep adding small amounts to the water formed. Melting will be faster this way. The same method applies if you must use ice. Chip it into small pieces. Don't drink snow or ice water without boiling it. Each might be contaminated. Play it safe. It is imperative to stay well. Although boiled water will seem tasteless, some aeration occurs by pouring back and forth from one container to another. If you have foil, a second container can be fashioned from it. But emergencies are not comfort tours, and you may have only a single container. Drink the water flat and forget it. A winter-camping, snowshoeing addict friend of mine carries a coil of small-diameter plastic tube for drinking from high-country streams when snow is deep. Granted, he takes in water that might be polluted, but under the snow mass that completely covers small creeks at high altitude the chance is slim. He uses the drinking tube because it is often very difficult to get down steep banks to the tiny open waterholes. Never eat snow or ice as a source of water unless it is absolutely necessary, and then only slowly. It may be polluted, and it chills your stomach. Mountains and Forests In the mountains of the North and in forests such as those of New England, southern Canada and the upper Great Lakes region finding water is seldom any problem. If you have a map, as you should, you can easily locate water, unless you are lost. If so, canyons, valleys, gorges, any "downhill country" all lead to water almost without fail. The water table in mountain valleys or in heavily forested northern regions is generally not far below the ground surface. If you do not immediately find lake or flowing stream, it is a good idea to know where water is most likely to occur and most easily acquired. At the foot of any steep, broken rock wall where definite cracks exist in the rocks, running out to points, there are likely to be springs or seepages. Porous and soft rocks allow water to leach out easily. Hard rocks, such as granite, turn seepage along crevices. If you locate a mountain or north-country streambed that is dry but has bluffs and rock terraces rising above it, don't assume no water is present. Check the rock strata carefully. If there are hard folds above, then a layer of limestone or even sand or clay, look for green vegetation growing along the base of this layer. The entire layer may be filled with water. A small trench dug into the edge of such strata, right along where the green vegetation grows, may attract a quick seepage of water that offers an ample supply. Dry mountain or northern-forest streambeds that show gravel can be deceptive, too. On occasion when you lie down and press your ear against such a gravel stretch you hear a trickle underneath. However, this is a lucky exception and is by no means reliable. More often water is there and not heard. Dig a bit in a gravel bed, especially where the stream course is narrow. If you gravel continues on down a foot or more and is dry, better forget it. Remember that when you need water, energy spent digging deep holes is usually better spent seeking another source. However, if you strike sand beneath the layer of surface gravel, and it is damp, water may be nearby. Water sinks swiftly in gravel but not necessarily in sand. Damp sand may indicate that a foot or two down you will strike flowing water. On my own property in the Texas hill country we have a creek that flows year-round. But in hot weather long stretches of it go underground. I've had people who I've taken down there sympathizing because my stream is dry. But a few rods on downstream there is a bubbling, gurgling flow bursting out of the gravel to flow over solid rock. Often in mountain or forest country water can be found at unexpected locations. For example, an area of clay soil atop a high bluff is a fine water source. This is because clay soils retain water. In building earthen clams engineers often use clay for a core; it holds back the water. A damp spot atop a clay bluff may indicate a reservoir of water. Look closely at the edges of the clay area for sand, or any soil with lesser water-holding properties. A hole dug here, or even in the clay, might fill with good water. Vegetation Clues Vegetation growing in specific places offers excellent clues to water, in forested and mountain regions and in arid areas. A good plan, particularly if you have a binocular, is to scan the entire surrounding region, checking out both land contours and vegetation clues. Even though a water course is unseen, a line of brush that can be identified as alder or willow invariably means water. Tamaracks and balsams grow in low, wet places, and in the North cedar is associated with stream courses or lake shores. Large willow trees always mean water, and because their root system is shallow but spreading, they commonly indicate water close to the surface. You do not need to find a stream or lake or bubbling spring. A cedar or tamarack bog or alder swamp will offer pools of water, stained from leaves and decaying vegetation but not necessarily impure. Boiling will make it potable, even though some taste-especially in cedar and tamarack swamps- may remain. Arid country In severely canyon-cut, rocky country, scan very carefully the headers of short, sharp draws or canyons. These draws may be of solid rock, but with trees growing along the edges. You often find a flat place' where clay or muck has accumulated over many years on top of the rock, where heavy water-oriented grasses or sedges grow. This is true of my area of Texas, and it occurs almost anywhere throughout the continent where such canyon terrain exists. Heavy grasses indicate that water has been here over many, many years, perhaps only seasonally. However, a hole dug into the thin clay or muck below such grasses often emits a seep of water. In numerous arid locations a rocky bluff that over hangs an apparently dry streambed has ferns clinging to it at specific spots. This indicates porous rock and sure water. I have chipped out indentations in such porous overhangs and started a drop of clean, cool water on numerous occasions. This can be a lifesaver, with an almost unlimited supply of water to which a small clump of clinging ferns in an otherwise desert situation directed you. Throughout vast expanses of arid country, across the plains and the desert, the cottonwood tree is a sure indicator of water. It is found along stream courses. Many will be dry or at least appear so. Look for large cottonwoods. An ancient one of large size indicates that a consistent source of water has been here for many years. Dozens of times a pool of water will be discovered in an otherwise dry wash near a cottonwood. Or, a bit of digging in the vicinity-try upstream first- will uncover seepage. Mesquites, however, growing along a wash usually mean little chance for water. Whitebrush thickets along a wash mean, in the Southwest, that water is near. In any arid region, glassing or searching may turn up spots of outstanding green: at the base of a rock outcrop, in a low place along a wash, even part way up a rock terraced barren mountain. Especially lush patches of different vegetation are usually indicators of water. Getting to the water may not always be easy. Conversely, there may be a spring or small oasis lower down and wide open for your use. It is surprising how water plants-even cattails- colonize a small spot in desert surroundings where water is permanent. Undoubtedly seeds were transported by birds. Bird and Animal Signs Birds are very much worth watching. Flights of doves, common in U.S. deserts, all moving in the same direction toward evening or late afternoon mean a waterhole. Doves are extremely mobile, long-distance flyers, and may be going to a hole too distant for you to reach that day. Nonetheless, take a bearing on them, and watch them closely. Watch for quail, too. Some desert quails may get along fairly well for long periods without water, other than that taken from vegetation. But any desert area that abounds in quail will have water within 100 to 300 yards of such a concentration. Quail stay bunched up resting in shade during the middle of the day, but go to water early and late. Be particularly alert in desert situations for such birds as blackbirds, or water-oriented birds such as a few ducks in flight. Blackbirds are not desert creatures but are occasionally found in arid terrain, invariably near water. Any bird flights, regardless of species, that take a definite tack, are worth checking. They must have a water supply at flight's end. Watch animals, too. A well worn mule deer trail in desert mountains, one that goes downhill, may well be a trail leading to water. Such trails are often seen from high points at great distances when you scan with a binocular. Watch desert mule deer with special concentration just prior to and at dawn. They have a habit of drinking at dawn, then going up into the rimrocks to bed down in shady crevices for the day. Don't expect to find a huge spring as their water source. They are desert creatures, getting along on what is available. It may be only a rocky depression that holds rainwater. Caves or hollowed out places in rock bluffs may contain water. But be cautious about entering caves, because of snakes and the chance of getting lost. If you note a cave or hole in a rock wall, even one you cannot reach, watch it closely at evening. If swarms of bats emerge, remember that they are mammals and must have water. They will usually head for water right away. Their course may give you a clue. Desert Hints Again let me caution against any vast amount of digging for water in desert terrain. The amount of energy used up may be too much, or it may be expended to better advantage in other ways. For example, following a definite, time-worn dry stream course in a desert, not just a flood wash, not only may lead in due time to a larger, live stream, but it may also bring you to small pools among rocks or in gravel and sand, even in hot weather. Evaluate carefully "sure" indications of water. For instance, in such a dry streambed, the outside of a bend is the place to check most meticulously. If the bank is concave, and a depression exists, water has stood here. Sandy loam should at least be probed here. If it shows any damp-ness, on surface or a foot down, then digging is worth-while. If you are outfitted with quality maps of the desert region where you are going, you should check beforehand all indications of springs and other water sources. Invariably they are shown on the maps. Then if you are not lost but have a breakdown on your hands, you can study your map and determine precisely where a water supply is located. Another type of arid-country water source nowadays is seldom mentioned. Finding it requires knowing where you are, and having its location or locations exactly pinpointed on your map. Over a number of years game management people have been building, often in remote desert expanses, what are known as "guzzlers." These are water traps, designed to catch, hold, and protect rainwater over long periods, for use by game birds and animals. Some have been built in desert bighorn sheep country, to make possible spread of range. Others are for desert quail and deer. They are designed so that these creatures can drink but cannot get into the water and thus pollute it. Contact game department personnel for locations of guzzlers in the "outback" when planning a trip as a good precaution. Mark them on your map. Plant Sources Vegetation is a water source in emergency. There is hardly a place where you have much difficulty finding water across the northern half of this continent, but the arid areas are problem locations. Fortunately it is here that water-conserving plants, such as the cacti, grow most abundantly. The barrel cactus is always cited as a desert water source. It is a good one, too, but it does not grow in all desert locations. If you hack off the top of this cactus and slice and hack the pulp inside into pieces, a substantial amount of juice, mostly water, will accumulate. Prickly pear is the most common cactus and comes in great variety. The pads and fruit both contain large quantities of juice. The problem in handling cacti as a water source is the danger of getting scratches or cuts from spines, which quickly fester. Beware the fuzz in small clumps on prickly pear fruits or pads, or on any cactus. The various prickly pears and flat-pad cactus species are, incidentally, excellent food items as well as water sources. With the exception of the coconut, beware of plant juices that are milky. Among desert plants, stalks of mescal, sotol, and Spanish bayonet all can be cut and drained of their juices for emergency water. In jungles or even some shaded desert locations, varied vines are found. When you are tapping any of these for water, reach up as high as you can to cut first. Then cut the section at the bottom. The juice drains downward when the two cuts are made, but the top one must be made first to keep sap from rising. Green coconuts contain milk easy to get to. But the chances of getting into a survival situation in green-coconut country on this continent are rare. In fact, the water-from-plants idea has been highly over-popularized. Even "cactus water" is not the bubbling fountain it is sometimes pictured to be. I have camped among prickly pear, thousands of acres of it, during dry spells when you couldn't have coaxed a quart of water from fifty pounds of pads. They contract and grow "thin" during dry times. The common grapevine is one of the most overworked plants of all in popular survival literature. Large wild grapevines are an excellent source of juice to substitute for water. Cut a length and drain the water into a container or directly into your mouth. But wild grapes seldom grow in severely arid expanses. In my travels over forty years I have never seen wild grapevines in any spot where I could not find water elsewhere within a short distance! While it is important to know such sources of emergency liquids, or cordage, a false sense of security is possible. For example I read recently some advice about gathering wild grapevines to bind a raft together for a swift northern mountain stream in winter. There is just one drawback: at that latitude and in such terrain the chance of finding a wild grapevine is about as remote as finding a green coconut! Also liquid from vines- the wild grape is one-does not flow readily at all times. Summer produces best, winter not at all. In other words, know what is possible, but don't let cozy campfire chatter confuse the facts. Seacoasts It is conceivable (though not possible in many places on this continent) that you might be caught in an emergency along a seacoast. Along all Northern coasts there is little chance of being far from freshwater sources: streams which enter the bays or oceans, near-shore ponds and lakes, or inland swamps. But you might find yourself in sand dune country. It is possible, but again not surefire, that you will be able to get fresh water by digging in sand, not deeply, during low tide just at the highwater line on the sand. In theory, the first water to come into a hole here will be fresh. It is less dense (lighter) than salt water. Or, at times you can go back among dunes and dig and locate seeping fresh water the same way. But, too many people accept this as a system that is going to work, and it may not work at all. Fresh water must be present. It's that simple. If it isn't, you don't get any. Some distance back from the shore, perhaps among dunes but in the lowest spot, so a kind of seepage basin is formed, chances are better that if you get water at all, it will be partly fresh. It may be brackish. But a small amount of salt is not harmful. Filtering through thicknesses of cloth, or through sand, may help some. In no case should you drink saltwater. It can kill you, taken in any quantity. Filtering Desert Water Inland in deserts occasionally alkali water is all that can be located. It is hardly drinkable as is, but can be made so if not too severely alkaline. First filter it through sand. Do this by filling a cloth, even your shirt, with sand and pouring the water through it. But use sub-surface sand. Surface sand may be alkali-loaded already. Next boil it, but meanwhile place in the pot some charcoal or ash from wood previously charred in your fire. If you find desert waterholes, incidentally, with no vegetation at all growing around them, at least no vegetation which is alive, beware. This water probably is not drinkable, having leached out from the soil certain minerals that have literally poisoned it. In deserts especially, conserving the liquids in your body is almost like finding water. Conserve energy during the heat, so you perspire as little as possible. Always keep well covered-head, arms, entire body-rather than removing your clothing. This may not be comfortable, but perspiration evaporates more slowly when you are clothed, and you avoid sunburn, which raises body temperature and hastens evaporation. Ground Sources In some instances clew is a source of water. In the desert, where temperature changes are wide between night and day, heavy dews may occur. A downed plane or a broken-down vehicle offers large surfaces on which dew can collect. Clean such surfaces as best you can. Prepare to mop up dew at dawn, squeezing out mop cloth into a container. A sheet of plastic, numerous smooth rocks laid out at night, a canvas ground cloth or tarp-all can be utilized as dew collectors. Dew may even be utilized from vegetation. But small surfaces unfortunately do not furnish much. You must be up before dawn in order to collect as much as possible. Plain mud can be a water source. Wallow absorbent material such as cloth in it, and squeeze out the saturation. Obviously this is impure liquid. It must be boiled. But a fair sized mudhole, mopped up, could save your life. Meanwhile, be ever watchful of the weather. At the least sign of rain, don't travel if you are in dire need of water. Begin immediately to arrange for catching all the rain water you can. Some ideas are as follows. Scoop a broad, shallow hole in the earth, lay your plastic sheet or tarp in it. Any small board or tree trunk or even a stick can work, in a heavy rain, as a "run-off" to direct water into any makeshift container. Make containers, in desperation, from broad leaves, or packed earth, or flat rocks. If there is a dry wash near you that is narrow enough, you may be able before a hard rain to push sand and rocks into a makeshift dam that will hold back a flood of water long enough for you to get your share. Use every possible and available container, even to spreading your shirt, with sand spread atop it, inside a shallow depression. If a tree is near, tie a cloth around it and let a "tail" serve as a wick to drain water during a rain off into any type of container. Wring out the cloth periodically. Palm trees are mentioned in all survival manuals. Many North Americans may be gulled into believing that they should keep an eye out for them. Palm trees are a clue to nearby, immediate, water, and to liquids from various types of palm-borne fruit. The trouble is that only far down in tropical North America are there palm trees worthy of mention in isolated situations that could possibly be helpful to persons who need them. In southern Mexico and Central America they are present. The sap from cut fronds or flower stalks might be helpful. But not within the continental United States and only in restricted areas far south of the border where these trees are indigenous. This popular fallacy instills confidence where it is not due. Palmettos, however, in the Southeastern low country, can give up water when fronds or stems or hearts are cut. But chances of need in this region are so few that only the fundamental knowledge is necessary. Other water is readily available, as in the Ever-glades, one of the few remote areas in that region. There are many ways to filter mud and other sediment out of water. In cactus country, slash pads (as of prickly pear) and pour muddy water on them in a lined hole or container. The gelatinous moisture within the pads gathers the mud or sediment. Let muddy water stand overnight to settle out mud. Filtering through cloth, grass, a cone-shaped contrivance made from tough sedge grasses or reeds, or through sand, will help. None of these operations is especially important, if you boil the water. Mud is not harmful as such. Settle it out, then skim off the water and boil to purify, assuming you have no chemical treatment. Survival 'Still' Anong the most important water-gathering knowledge is how to build a "still" to force water from what appears to be dry ground. Over the past few years the still made with a plastic sheet has been used a good many times for gathering much needed water. This is an important reason for carrying the plastic in the first place. Some exertion is required. In moderate temperatures this won't matter. In high temperature of a desert locale, wait until dusk or preda'wn to do the work. To make a still, dig a hole at least one and one-half to two feet deep and a yard or a bit more across at the top. This depression should be bowl shaped. At the bottom, dead center, place a container, hopefully one with a reasonably wide mouth such as a boiling pot, or a container shaped from foil. Now spread the plastic sheet across the top of the hole, and gently push down in the center so that it becomes a large cone with the apex directly over and within about three inches of the container. The sheet must now be tightly sealed around the rim of the depression by piling on earth dug from the hole, or rocks. When that is done, place a small weight such as a stone on the bottom, center, to keep the plastic snug and the inverted apex precisely above the container. This plastic cone, heated by the sun, will pull from the earth any moisture that is there. It is distilled onto the underside of the plastic and runs down to drip into the container. This is not absolutely infallible, however. There must first be moisture present. Variations add to the amount of water. If cactus is plentiful, hack up chunks and line the entire bottom of the hole with pulp before spreading the plastic and sealing it. The cactus will be dehydrated and the resultant water distilled and dripped into the container. If you have a coil of small plastic tubing, mentioned a few paragraphs back, lay one end into the container and bring the tube up the side of the hole and from under the edge of the sheet. You are thus able to drink without disturbing your still. This can collect a quart of water a day and under optimum conditions more. No doubt other water-gathering ideas can be concocted. However, using the foregoing as a guide, you will be basically prepared. As in every other survival endeavor, good sense, calm approaches and reasoning are of the utmost importance. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Dave