Water: Finding it when the streams are dry?

H

Hotrod

Joined
Mar 19, 2003
Messages
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So... I have a question:

I've pondered how you could find water in dry conditions... the streams are dry, the lakes are to far away to make it. What do you do?

If the streams are dry, and the ground is cracking... i'd assume that the leaves on trees are wilted, so without digging a well, how do you find water?

Thanks... I've spent a few hours pondering this over the past few weeks... but I'm befuddled! :confused:
 
Often when a creek has dried, there is still subsurface water available. Observations of topography and vegetation can aid in locating spots to dig for water. Look for low points in the creek bed that are shaded with a higher concentration of vegetation.

-- Dizos
 
Like above said. Also, you can also find subsurface water by studying the foilage of the area. Not only will you learn what's edible and used for medicinal purposes, but also what specific plants require high quantities of water to survive, so if you find those plants, odds are you've found a source of water. Also, some plants have a large bulb hidden underground for water storage, especially in dry climates. Just make sure you know if the plant is poisonous or not.

Wanted to add, if there are animals in the area, they will know where water is available, so following tracks could lead you to a water source.
 
Ask someone for directions for the nearest pub and give water a miss entirely... ;) just kidding.

Tracks of animals will nearly always orient to and from water sources. Birds will be leaving a water source early in the morning and heading towards it late in the day. I wouldn't base this on the behaviour of a single animal however - it's better to take a survey.

The outside edge of a bend in a dry creek or river bed will often have water you can dig for. Also look for the base of large monoliths leading to natural hollows in the land or clumps of trees. Rocky outcrops can also be the source of natural springs which can still be running in even the dryest of seasons.

Indigenous people will have the local watersources mapped and pinpointed as this is knowledge passed down from generation to generation.
 
You can often coax drinkable water from even damp ground. Pick an area that has potential for water like the deepest park of a dry stream or river bed, spring dampened seep area or similar area. Dig down to moist soil and form a cone shaped hole in the earth. Put a container at the bottom of the hole and cover the hole with a tarp, poncho, ground cover or plastic. Weight down the center of the cover, over the container, with a small stone and weight down the cover edges with soil, stones or other weights. Make sure the cover does not touch the sides of the hole. The idea is to allow condesation to run down intot he container. If clear plastic is available it is preferable but any water proof cover will work. The mosture will rise from the moist soil during the day and and condense on the cover. As it runs down to the center weight it will collect in the container in the deepest part of the hole.
I have collected small amounts of drinkable water from barely moist sand in seasonal stream beds this way. It is not gallons of gator aid but it can taste mighty good and is reasonable clean as well. This method also works to collect drinkable water from salty or brackish tidal flats.
 
Pretty cool...

I had not thought about a mud flat... makes alot of sense!

I wonder how the pioneers did it... with no waterproof plastics? :eek:
 
It works with cotton only instead of running down the middle it tends to get soaked up and you could squeeze it out. They probably just dug a well or died.
 
Hotrod,

Your question is a good one. For whatever area you are going to spend time in you need to know the local seasonal habits of water. There is no knowlege better than local knowlege.

Aside from the nightmare scenario of being forced down in the wilderness with no gear, most of the time you wind up in a wild place you will do so by choice.
If you are going to, over, through, or near a wilderness area then you need to prepare for your water needs.

Basic rule of water conservation: Ration sweat not drinking water.

The less you sweat the more the water in your body can go to other things like flushing toxins from your body. If you allow yourself to break out into a sweat it is like squeezing a sponge, you being the sponge, there goes your water supply. Don't eat, especially meat. Digestion also uses up water.

INCREASE YOUR WATER CARRYING CAPACITY

Many people will carry a canteen with the idea that they can fill it as necessary. That works most of the time if water is abundant. In places where it is scarce you need to carry enough containers that you can load up with a full day's supply at one source. If not then you will only have 1 liter of carrying capacity and you will get dehydrated before reaching or finding your next source of water. You don't have to carry 5 liters of water but you do need to be able to carry that much. I use 2 two-liter platypus bags as reserve water carriers. This also lets you cache water or leave water with a wounded person, or send it with a person who is going for help.

INCREASE YOUR WATER COLLECTION CAPACITY

Depending on local conditions you may be able to collect water from a variety of sources. Aside from open flowing water or lakes, the best sources are the following: Rain collecting, dew collection, digging, fog harvesting, transpiration bags. The solar still is a time consuming and difficult way to get water and if done incorrectly will expend more sweat than it will replace.

Rain and dew collection are very effective but it may not rain and sometimes dew does not form at all. Dew formation depends on the relative humidity and temperature fall at night. Sometimes the air is perfectly happy to hold it's water all night. In heavy dew you will be able to soak up about a liter an hour of water. If dew forms in your area then be sure to carry a large soft cloth.

When digging for water dig a deep, narrow hole not a foxhole. If you have a machete this is very easy to do in moist sandy soil. Digging is work and work makes sweat, dig deep not broad. Test the ground by sinking your machete or a sharp stick down as far as possible to see if it comes up wet. Keep searching down stream in dry stream beds or dried up speings. You can often find where it break surface or near enough to reach by digging. Butterflies and other insects often land on soil that has a high moisture content or water just below the surface.

One piece of gear I have found invaluable is a 60 ml syringe and a length of plastic tubing attached. This allows you to get down to water in places you can't reach or to harvest water too shallow to dip. It also allows you to collect water without disturbing fine silt or mud. Often plants will trap rainwater or condense fog in little puddles. The syringe can help you collect these small amounts of water. This set-up will also allow you to suck up water from the bottom of your deep narrow hole that conserved your sweat.
I have even threaded the tube down tiny 1 square cm holes in boulders and extracted as much as 200 ml of old rain water trapped inside rocks in near desert-like conditions.

BE ABLE TO FILTER AND TREAT YOUR WATER

Water collected by expedient means is usually pretty scuzzy looking. You will want to filter it and treat it with iodine or some other means. You can boil water at a rolling boil for 1 minute but think this through. You won't be doing this in a microwave, it means you have to have a fire and a container to boil water. Collecting fuel and tinder is work and work means sweat. Boiling your water means it will take about an hour for you to build a fire, boil the water, and let it cool to the point you will be able to drink it, still really hot. You also spend sweat to do it. By way of comparison by dropping 2 Potable Aqua tablets into your canteen you can drink in a half hour and it didn't cost you any time or sweat.

Hope this helps.

Mac
 
Something I forgot.

Small critters are 90% water if you have the sand to squeeze them and drink the juice. Apaches used to drink the fluids from small game to survive in the worst desert.
Last resort though, too many diseases to do for fun. I guess you could set up a little solar still and distill the "fluids" for extra protection and to remove some of the salt and assorted proteins.
 
riddleofsteel said:
Something I forgot.

Small critters are 90% water if you have the sand to squeeze them and drink the juice. Apaches used to drink the fluids from small game to survive in the worst desert.
Last resort though, too many diseases to do for fun. I guess you could set up a little solar still and distill the "fluids" for extra protection and to remove some of the salt and assorted proteins.
Click to expand...


Yum...

:footinmou
 
  • Absorb condensation with a cloth, wring out water
  • Follow game trails or follow circling flocks of birds
  • Let capillary action from plants assist: cut a bamboo sapling at the top and bend it over to drip into a bucket; cut and hollow out a plantain/banana tree
  • Cut the bottom of a thick vine and let drain into a bucket
  • Bruise a lower frond of a palm, buri, coconut, sugar,or nipa tree and let bleed
  • Construct a still: fill a clear plastic bag 1/2 to 3/4 full of green non-poisonous vegetation, place a rock inside, place bag on slope in direct sunlight, collect condensation; dig large hole, place bucket at center, place tubing into bucket (long enough to drink from after sheet is in place) scatter green non-poisonous vegetation around bucket and on sides of hole, cover with clear plastic sheet, weigh sheet down on all sides, place a rock at center of sheet and above bucket, allow condensation to drip into bucket
  • DO NOT drink alcohol, urine, blood or sea water
I highly recommend clarifying the instructions with the book, which can be gotten from Barnes & Noble from $10. The pictures help immensely, as well. Water procurement is in Chapter 5.
Best of luck :)
 
Here's a method I learned in a survival class. It assumes you have some basic equipment, being: 1) a clear plastic trash bag, the bigger, the better 2) duct tape, paracord, or something to secure the bag's bottom
Here is what you do:
-find a tree or some form of vegetation, preferably a tree which absorbs a lot of moisture, like a salt cedar.
-pick a large branch or group of branches that will be in direct/ near direct sunlight for several hours. Make sure the branches don't have any sharp sticks or thorns and are small enough to be "bagged" with your trash bag
-place your trash bag over the branches and totally seal off the hole of the bag around a thin part of the branch, using your duct tape or paracord. Make sure the branches and leaves are completely encased in the plastic.
-allow the bagged branches to remain in sunlight for some hours. Condensation will form, as the heat sucks water from the tree and gathers it in the plastic bag.

If the conditions are right (warm sun, sealed bag, moist leaves, little wind to rattle branches) you can get at least a quart of water from the branches. The more branches you bag, the more water you acquire. And, since the water is coming from vegetation, any potential toxins have already been sucked out. Just make sure you don't do this to poison oak/sumac/ivy! :barf: :cool:
 
Hotrod, you may be right. I don't know for sure, and I definitely don't want to find out the hard way.
 
I picked up the army survival book...

:cool:

Some very interesting items in there! :cool:

I have a question about the plants though... If you take a plastic bag, and wrapped half the plant, would the said plant die on you because of lack of oxygen? At what point do you suffocate the plant? :eek:
 
Hotrod,

I bagged a few branches in Brazil in a semi-arid area to see what they would produce. Each bag produced about 50 ml of water, not a whole lot, but the tecnique dosen't take much work. You just have to use clear bags and make sure they are tied tight.

A few weeks after I did this experiment I was back in the same area and checked the tree. Each of the branches I had bagged had died. I would suspect this would be the case if you are going to extract any useful amount of water.

In a survival situation branches are a resource. We kill them when we make shelters etc. I try to practice such destructive survival techniques in areas that are overgrown enough to afford it. I wouldn't bag branches around the house on your ornamental shrubs. Mac
 
I was more pondering the ability to bag a larger piece as a mini green house... Say a whole tomato plant. Just getting fresh oxygen in would be a problem.

Does not sound like a viable solution to anything but water production! :cool:
 
Hotrod said:
I picked up the army survival book...

:cool:

Some very interesting items in there! :cool:

I have a question about the plants though... If you take a plastic bag, and wrapped half the plant, would the said plant die on you because of lack of oxygen? At what point do you suffocate the plant? :eek:
Click to expand...
We're surviving here...not hugging trees! :D
kidding..

Hope you like the book. Especially interesting is that they add tips to avoid enemy detection :p
 
Hotrod -
In my experience, bagging tree branches may or may not kill the branch. From what I've seen, it depends on the type of tree/plant and how long the bags are left on the branch. For optimal water acquisition and tree health, a bag should be moved every few days.
Enjoy your survival manual, it speaks the truth about survival. :)
 
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