Water in the desert

[spartacus53]

This may be interesting for some that camp under extreme conditions. Let's say your in the middle of a desert and run out of water and there is no plant life to extract water from. Do you know how to still collect water without the aid of rain? The answer is really simple.

If you can't guess and would like to know feel free to drop me a line and thanks for reading.

 

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[diggummup]

Well, if you have some plastic sheeting, some rocks and a cup you can get it from the sun. What about if you have none of those materials?

 

[extractor]

Well, if you have some plastic sheeting, some rocks and a cup you can get it from the sun. What about if you have none of those materials?

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

WELL?? No answers? If anyone is interested, I can mention a few.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[godisnum1]

Plastic sheet, cup, small pebble... but if you don't have those, maybe collect moisture during the night with anything that will absorb it?

Bran <><

 

[Cachefinder]

go to the lowest lying area and dig


Cachefinder-

 

[godisnum1]

Plastic bag over a limb on a desert brush, like a sage tree... and place a small rock at the bottom of the bag and tie it tightly around the branch so that the moister is caught inside and collects at the bottom of the bag.

Bran <><

 

[Produce Guy]

First of all,how dumb do you have to be to go hiking in the desert without enough water,2nd. why go out in the desert when you can go in the woods,and 3rd. who said you could leave the house before doing all your chores!

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Wrap a clear plastic bag around a leafy non-poisonous tree branch in warm weather to produce brackish, but mostly drinkable water. Make sure it is sealed against the branch to prevent water vapor from escaping and that there is air trapped in the bag.

Gather dew from grass and non-poisonous plants with cloth (like your shirt or sock) for small amounts of drinkable water.

You can purify your own "spent" urine. Seriously Not recommended but, possible

Mike HHHH

 

[Oroblanco]

HOLA amigos,

In light of recent tragedies in our deserts, perhaps this subject ought to be expounded on to more detail, for we have visitors who come to T-net just to read our discussions for information.

First - if you are in the desert and have NO water, DO NOT EAT. Eating food of any kind, makes your digestive tract draw water from your body to enable it to digest the food, so no matter how hungry, until you have water do NOT eat any food. You can live a long time without food, but only a few days without water.

The condensation method alluded to previously <known as a Solar Still> may seem mysterious to someone unfamiliar with it; the idea is to dig and expose some damp earth in a hole or hollow, place wet stones, fresh vegetation etc in the hole, place a container in the center to collect the moisture, cover the hole with a plastic or canvas tarp (plastic works much better) and weight it all around, plus one small stone in the center to form a depression there - the idea being that the condensation from the hole will collect on the plastic, run down to the center and drop into your container. It does work, even with toxic plant types - <EDIT DON'T use TOXIC plant types, it WILL produce water but it may be toxic> - however if you are in a survival situation you must build several of these condensors for each one will only produce a little water each night. Here is a fair explanation with pictures
http://www.ehow.com/how_12584_make-solar-still.html

Finding water where there are NO plants is a tough proposition; look for dark earth, dark-colored stone, darker stains on rock. These may indicate moisture present, which by digging you might reach. If you decide to dig, try to find the lowest point in the dark earth to dig and be prepared to dig deep if necessary.

If there are plants, a big thing to learn is water indicator plants. I will get to this in a moment. If at all possible, look to find an actual water source. Trees are a fair indicator - few trees can survive where there is no water. Look for a darker green "streak" of vegetation in the canyons, or gullies, dry washes etc - sometimes even a dry creek will have a natural "tank" where the water collects and doesn't go dry when the creek does. If there are trees, sometimes you can find a hollow in a tree that is holding water. Most often water you find like this will be absolutely alive with little squiggly things and green algae, but after boiling twenty minutes it should be safe to drink. Plants in deserts tend to be fairly evenly spaced, but where there is water, the plants "crowd" in on it. Look for a patch of denser vegetation.

Now back to those indicator plants. Where you see this type of plant, you will know that water is close.

Cattails - water within three feet. This could be vertical feet OR horizontal or any combination, but it will be close.
Elderberry bush - water within ten feet. <ditto on direction>
Desert Hackberry - water within twelve feet (if memory serves, I welcome any corrections) also has orange edible berries
Sycamores, Cottonwoods and some types of Willow trees are good indicators of water, but the water may be deep in the ground.
Mexican Palo Verde, Button Bush, Pecans (wild) Bald Cypress and Salt Cedars all indicate water nearby, may be able to reach by digging.

As a general rule, in desert country - mountains are better than flats for finding springs or water tanks. The flats are MUCH more stingy with water sources, if you are in the situation and have to choose, head for the hills rather than striking out into a wide flat plain in the desert.

DON'T ration your water, you must drink at least a gallon a day - you will not lengthen your survival by rationing it.

Game trails often lead to water sources - if several trails seem to be leading into some particular place, it is a good place to check out for water. Flocks of birds may indicate where water can be found - watch for doves in particular, if they seem to flock to some spot to land, it may be a spring or water tank. They will often circle over waterholes in the early morning and late afternoon around sunset. Waterfowl would be even better of course, but you don't see a lot of them in the deserts.

Everyone knows about the good old lifesaver Barrel Cactus, an emergency source of water in the desert which has saved many an old prospectors life, but not everyone knows what it looks like.

Chopping into such a cactus (be careful about those spines!) will yield a nice somewhat syrupy drink, however you should be aware that it also has some 'astringent' properties, which may actually make you FEEL thirstier,<may make you feel nauseous> but it can save your life. DON'T eat the pulp either, just suck on the juices.

Do stay out of the Sun, and restrict your activities during the heat of the day - if possible, travel and do any work you must do in the early mornings and late evenings or even after dark if there is enough light to see to do so safely. Finding shade may be a big problem, but if you have a tent or tarp or anything to make a temporary Sun-shelter, it will do.

Do make sure to include enough SALT in your daily diet; your body needs it along with that water to regulate your body temperature and sweating uses up a surprising amount, so include some salt tabs in your pack.

Good luck and good hunting amigos, DO go out and explore our beautiful desert country, but educate yourself and do it smart - don't end up being a tragic statistic. There are some excellent desert survival books available, and some good info on the internet but some online articles are questionable so if you are relying on these sources, check the info against other sources before trusting it.

Oroblanco

 

[kamgort]

Well, if you have some plastic sheeting, some rocks and a cup you can get it from the sun. What about if you have none of those materials?

 

[Oroblanco]

THANK YOU Kamgort! Excellent illustrations of how to purify a polluted water source and the basic Solar Still.

The US Army survival guide chapter on desert survival is online at
http://www.equipped.com/21-76/ch13.pdf

ALSO - the same guide chapter on Water Procurement has excellent advice,
http://www.equipped.com/21-76/ch6.pdf

Oroblanco

 

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[Skifisher]

Some very good replies here. First take enough water with you!!!!!!

Oroblanco's advice on rationing is very good advice, as tempting as it is, dont ration, if your thirsty, drink. People have been found dehydrated to death with water on them.

 

[Oroblanco]

Ditto to the sage words of Skifisher, he is absolutely right - take enough water with you, every time. There is no guarantee that you will find water, even a spring shown on a USGS topo map may turn out to be dry! <I got into serious trouble once by counting on a spring and found it had gone dry - don't depend on finding water!> One point to remember and this may sound crude or crass, but if you are not urinating regularly, you are not drinking enough; so drink even if you don't feel very thirsty for that water is evaporating out of every pore in your skin continuously, and in vapor from your every breath. You need to drink a bare minimum of a gallon a day, per person. The color of your urine should be very light too, if it looks dark or discolored you are not getting enough water - period!

I don't want to hear an argument from our desert rats, that say they can live for four or five days or even longer without water etc for while you might maybe survive, the loss of water from your system is doing real damage to your kidneys, liver etc even though you may not feel it. It may be a pain to have to pack extra water around but it could mean the difference between life or death literally.
Oroblanco

 

[RGINN]

Very good advice, and I can't add anything to this. Plan ahead. Be prepared. I cannot feature a scenario that would place me in the desert with nothing. Just got back from SE Utah, a very dry area, and my biggest concern was where the nearest place that sold beer was. Found it, and it's all 3.2.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

You really don't have to "purify" your own urine. Unless you have spent time taking in toxins, urine straight from the body is sterile. If you really MUST do this, do it immediately, because urine starts collecting nasty bacterias etc., after the first minute it is out of the body.

However, if you work in a battery factory (lead), or a nuclear plant or paint with leaded paints, your body gets rid of those things through your kidneys and out your urine, so you will be ingesting toxins that your body has gotten rid of.

It will prolong your life, but not save it forever. Urine is 80% (give or take) water - and that will be if you have not rationed your water, and drank when you needed to (another reason never to ration water), but, since you never pee as much as you drink (the body does take some), your intake will just get lower and lower - hopefully, if you really have to do it, its to get you to the next good water. (urine works for radiator fluid, too). But, hopefully, you won't get into this situation, because you have planned for emergencies, by bringing more than what you think you need - and drinking it - even though warm water is hard to drink, too - drink on a regular basis, even if you do not feel thirsty.
And, a hat will actually help you. When the body thermometer gets out of whack from too much sun, your thirst quite often diminishes as well.
So, drink even when if you don't think you are thirsty.

B

 

[Old Town]

Don't solar stills need a water source under the plastic sheeting to get superheated by the sun to evaporate the moisture and have it collect in the first place? Like leaves and moss, even moist soil?

The other way of collecting moisture from condensation at night on top of the plastic cone might not yield anything in the desert with humidity under 20% and even less.

I watched the Lone Ranger dig in a low spot once. That worked for him. Tonto was watching from a shady cave opening with the makeup guy and the grip and he was drinking a Coke and muttering something about stupid paleface and method acting.

OT

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

What do you expect from Tonto - he didn't even know enough not to go to town! (he got in trouble every time the Lone Ranger sent him to town).

From a comedy sketch: Lone Ranger: Tonto, you go to town
Tonto: You go to he11, kemo sabe!



Beth

 

[papajos]

Water hell................just bring enough beer!

When I was just a Jos and not a Papa yet all we did was shove a couple bottles of Coors in our pockets and head for the hills. Good times out there in the Az. mts!