Combat Arms 2869 Grove Way Castro Valley, CA 94546-6709 Telephone: Store (415) 538-6544 Computerized BBS (415) 537-1777 August 11, 1991 SURVIVAL WATER MANAGEMENT The need for water is the next thing to attend to after you have made shelter against extreme weather conditions. You can only survive three (3) without water (and go a lot longer without food). Water makes up some 60% of your body's weight/mass. You d-a-i-l-y need two (2) quarts of water at sea level. If you are in a location over 15,000 above sea level you body's requirements increase to four (4) quarts per day. The human body loses water (call "dehydration") through three main processes: 1. Respiration (breathing in and out). 2. Urination (some loss through defecation). 3. Perspiration (sweating). You plan should be to ration your sweat, not your intake of water. By this I mean to have you avoid (as much as possible) any activity which increases sweating. Your urine output is probably the best indicator of your level of dehydration. You should normally urinate about 2 cups per day. Under dehydrated conditions, the body cuts back on the amount of water in the urine, reducing output. You want to avoid having your urine appear dark yellow in color. This is an indication that you need to increase your intake of water. Another thing that matters is maintaining the proper electrolyte balance within your body. This is especially true in desert and high altitude environments. Your body needs sodium, chlorine, magnesium and potassium compounds to maintain the electrolyte balance. Salt intake helps. Water is located in a variety of places, including streams, lakes, ice, snow, rainfall and dew on plants. Study the things and activities around you. Observe birds, animals and plants. Understand the concept of the "water table." Learn how to build and use a survival water still. WATER CONTAMINANTS Certain things can contaminate water and make it unfit for drinking. Chemical pollutants (especially near population centers) can make water dangerous to drink. But it is the presence of organisms in the water than are your main survival concern. These organisms (bacteria like salmonella, shigella, e. coli, cholera and typhoid; protozoan cysts like giardia lamblia, viruses like hepatitis, parasites such as schistosomiasis and intestinal worms such as tapeworms and hookworms) can quickly cause diarrhea and illness/death shortly after ingesting them. Many mistakenly believe that cholera and typhoid are only concerns in the "third world" but they forget how those water borne diseases ravaged America before the creation of proper water treatment facilities. DISINFECTING WATER To disinfect water, filter it first by pouring it through a filter, such as a handkerchief. This removes the larger particles. Next, boil the water to kill any and all organisms in the water. Boil it for 10 minutes at sea level and add one (1) minute for each 1,000 feet you are above sea level. Another way to remove very small, microscopic contaminants is with the use of a special filtration device, such as a Katadyn filter. The pores to such a filter must be smaller than 0.45 microns. However, such a filter will n-o-t filter out viruses. Water can also be treated with chlorine chemicals, such as Clorox (TM) or halazone. But I urge you not to rely on these chemical treatments too much. They sometimes fail to disinfect the water. Also note that halazone looses its potency from being exposed to storage conditions that were warm, exposure to air or if simply left on the shelf for a long period of time (which is why you should not purchase water treatment chemicals from surplus stores). Halazone often will not work correctly if the water being treated is too hot, too cold or too alkaline. Iodine based chemicals kill all of the organisms most of the time. To use iodine compounds, you must follow the instructions that accompany them to the letter. What follows are some general instructions on their use. Tetraglycine hydroperiodide (such as "Portable Aqua") treats water effectively if you use one tablet per quart of water and allow it to stand while the chemicals work their magic. Allow 1/2 hour (30 minutes) per quart of water (2 hours per gallon). If the water is cold or cloudy, use 2 tablets per quart and let the water sit for 1 hour per quart (4 hours per gallon). A 2% iodine tincture works also. Basically you add 8 to 10 drops of the tincture per quart of water. Allow the water to stand for 30 minutes per quart (2 hours per gallon). If the water is cold or cloudy, do not add more tincture but do let the water sit for 1 hour per quart (4 hours per gallon). MAKING A WATER STILL To make a basic water still, dig a hole in the dirt in a V shape (see illustration). Set a clean container in the center of the hole. The hole needs to be about 2 1/2 times as deep as the height of the container. If you have a plastic tube of sufficient length, insert it into the container and lay the end you will be sucking the water out with on the ground above the hole. Pack vegetation around, but not in, the collection container. Lay the plastic sheet (clear preferred but this is no time to get picky) across the hole. Secure the sheet by setting sand, rocks or dirt at the edge of the plastic sheet to anchor it to the ground. The sheet should droop down into the hole about a foot below the surface level. Carefully set a rock in the center of the sheet. Water will, over time, condense on the inner surface of the plastic sheet, roll down to the lowest point and drop into your container. Then you can either such it out with the tube (which keeps the still intact) or dismantle the still and drink from the container. This is a s-l-o-w process. It works best in desert areas that are hot during the day and cold at night. Expect about a pint (55 cubic centimeters) per 24 hours to collect in your container. ############# //############### ------------^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^//--------------- . ^^^^ ^^ //. . ^^^^ ^^^ // . . ^^^ ^^^ // . Legend: . ^^^OOOO^^^^ // . . ^^^^^^ // . // = drinking tube .))))) ^^^// (((((. .)))))) |----| ((((((. ))(( = vegetation .))))))))| |(((((((. .)))))))| |((((((. OOOOO = rock .))))))|----|(((((. .---------------. ### = sheet anchor -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This article is based upon information from Survival research Associates (2179 Canal Drive, Lake Park, Florida 33410, telephone 407-622-8922). I urge you to also purchase "Survive Safely Anywhere - The SAS Survival Manual" by John Wiseman, published by Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1986. If you have survival related articles, please post them to the Combat Arms BBS. Thank you. Richard Bash -Your SysOp-