Hydrate Or Die!

Water, H2O — the universal solvent — the elixir of life. It makes up about 3/4 of your body mass and roughly the same percentage of the planet is covered with the stuff. Second only to air, clean water is the substance most critical to life. No matter your circumstances, you’ll not go much more than three or four days without it before succumbing to a most unpleasant demise.

Those three tiny atoms bound together at an angle are the most fundamental component of life on our planet. In a solid blow the collective egos of physicians everywhere, more lives are saved worldwide each year by clean water than by all medical efforts combined. No matter the circumstances, climate, season, or threat, clean water is always at the top of anyone’s list of critical commodities in any survival situation.

At a minimum you will require two quarts per person, per day, of decent drinking water to keep the human machines running smoothly. At times when water is scarce, drink infrequently. But when you do drink, try to drink your fill. This will squeeze the most mileage out of a limited supply.

In most places save the desert, water will be readily available in the environment. The rub is we are not the only organisms who value it. An awful lot of microscopic creepy crawlies like the stuff as well. The only thing worse than trying to survive a catastrophic event is trying to do so while managing a raging case of infectious gastroenteritis with its nausea, vomiting and explosive diarrhea.

Once you have your water, there are three broad techniques for rendering it safe for human consumption. In each case let your untreated source sit for a while if possible then decant the clearest quantity off the top to minimize contamination as your
starting point.

Sterilization

Sterilization is the simplest approach and requires little as regards supplies. In this case the microscopic bugs remain in the water but are rendered inert by either heat or chemicals. You harmlessly drink up their little miniature deceased corpses at the end of the process. However, before you think this unduly objectionable, just ask somebody in the know what you are ingesting along with that yummy pork sausage you enjoyed for breakfast. Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss.

Cut the bottom out of a water bottle and stuff it full with clean white socks. Run your raw water through this improvised filter to get as much of the particulate matter out as possible before you get started. Obviously the less foreign material you have at the outset the better.

Boiling water to sterilize it requires nothing more than a proper container and a heat source. Bring your water to a vigorous boil for a few minutes and then let it cool. Boiled water never tastes very good; let it sit for a bit then shake it up to introduce a little air and the taste improves.

Clear water can be treated with fresh unscented bleach at the rate of 8 drops per gallon to render it safe for drinking. Bleach is a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite, about 6 percent by volume as you get it from the store, and is an indispensable and inexpensive survival staple. Treated water should be left out in the sun for a half hour or so before use and should smell very faintly of bleach. The resulting treated water will sometimes make you feel a bit queasy but should be safe to drink.

Bleach has a shelf life and should be stored in a dark cool place. More concentrated solutions can be used for camp tasks such as dishwashing. While dilute treatments do indeed produce safe drinking water, straight bleach is terribly poisonous if ingested. Military water purification tablets are also effective and I have used them before, but the resulting taste can be sub-optimal.

Filtration

Water filters represent the most convenient method of harvesting drinking water from an austere environment. Filters come in a broad array of sizes, capacities and prices. They are both simple to use and effective. I have lived for weeks on filtered water taken from a variety of sources to include silt-filled glacial melt while suffering no ill effects. Water filters work by excluding contaminants while allowing pure water to pass. Most filter units are ceramic and are silver-impregnated or include activated charcoal.

The simplest sort is likely the Lifestraw. The Lifestraw is usually around $20 and is but a click away on Amazon. This remarkable little device rides around your neck on a string. Just dip the end into most any conceivable bilge and give it a slurp. Clear, pure water comes through the good end with trivial effort. For individual use it really could not
be simpler.

Larger filters usually incorporate a small hand pump and are sufficient to produce plenty of water for individual use and cooking needs at a trivial weight and space penalty. These devices will usually set you back $50 to $100. Good ones will last for extended periods though operational life is a function of how funky your starting material might be.

Large family-sized water filters are also readily available but they can be expensive. These devices look like institutional coffee urns and are gravity-driven. Just pour the untreated water in the top and potable water comes out a spigot at the bottom. These units are sufficient to produce enough drinking and cooking water to keep a decent-sized family going but can set you back $400 or more. There is, however, a very cost-effective alternative.

Several companies offer kits that convert a pair of standard utility buckets from Lowes or Home Depot into an institutional water filter suitable to supply a family in a crisis. Mine cost me $39 from Amazon. The buckets were $3 each from our local home store. In this case you drill a pair of holes in the buckets per the instructions and install the included fittings. I found standard spade bits were the best tools to bore the holes.

Once the filter assembly is installed and the buckets are stacked you simply fill the top bucket with untreated water and gravity does the work. Be careful, the ceramic filter is fairly fragile and should not be handled roughly. The resulting device will produce a prodigious quantity of sparkling drinking water for less than the cost of a meal out with
your family.

Filtration

Water filters represent the most convenient method of harvesting drinking water from an austere environment. Filters come in a broad array of sizes, capacities and prices. They are both simple to use and effective. I have lived for weeks on filtered water taken from a variety of sources to include silt-filled glacial melt while suffering no ill effects. Water filters work by excluding contaminants while allowing pure water to pass. Most filter units are ceramic and are silver-impregnated or include activated charcoal.

The simplest sort is likely the Lifestraw. The Lifestraw is usually around $20 and is but a click away on Amazon. This remarkable little device rides around your neck on a string. Just dip the end into most any conceivable bilge and give it a slurp. Clear, pure water comes through the good end with trivial effort. For individual use it really could not
be simpler.

Larger filters usually incorporate a small hand pump and are sufficient to produce plenty of water for individual use and cooking needs at a trivial weight and space penalty. These devices will usually set you back $50 to $100. Good ones will last for extended periods though operational life is a function of how funky your starting material might be.

Large family-sized water filters are also readily available but they can be expensive. These devices look like institutional coffee urns and are gravity-driven. Just pour the untreated water in the top and potable water comes out a spigot at the bottom. These units are sufficient to produce enough drinking and cooking water to keep a decent-sized family going but can set you back $400 or more. There is, however, a very cost-effective alternative.

Several companies offer kits that convert a pair of standard utility buckets from Lowes or Home Depot into an institutional water filter suitable to supply a family in a crisis. Mine cost me $39 from Amazon. The buckets were $3 each from our local home store. In this case you drill a pair of holes in the buckets per the instructions and install the included fittings. I found standard spade bits were the best tools to bore the holes.

Once the filter assembly is installed and the buckets are stacked you simply fill the top bucket with untreated water and gravity does the work. Be careful, the ceramic filter is fairly fragile and should not be handled roughly. The resulting device will produce a prodigious quantity of sparkling drinking water for less than the cost of a meal out with
your family.

Preparation Is Key

There is a great deal of uncertainty in the world. The more our society evolves the more dependent we become upon technology and infrastructure. As a result we become all the more fragile as a species. Whether the precipitating insult is a hurricane, societal unrest, currency collapse, terrorist attack or something on the order of zombies or aliens, we are never more than one headline away from a fairly feral lifestyle.

Where once preparing for such stuff was the obsession of the lunatic fringe, nowadays survival prepping is both mainstream and big business. Capitalism being what it is, the market now allows us to do a bit of sensible prepping at reasonable cost. In the case of water, the most critical of all commodities, the means to secure an adequate supply of the stuff is now portable, reliable and inexpensive.

A little shelf-stable food, a proper firearm, and an inexpensive DIY water filter can transform a crisis of terrifying proportions into a fun family adventure. As is typically the case, the key to success rests in a little forethought and planning.

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