Water Rationing

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Feb 13, 2000
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74
I've been thinking...
When the water suddenly becomes limited, you begin rationing. For the first 24 hours you drink nothing and then you issue, say, 5 quarts per person per day for all uses. When half of that water is gone, you halve the ration to 5 pints per day. When half of the remaining water is gone, 5 cups per day and so on.

My question is, when is it prudent to cease the halving of the rations due to the condition that any less water does not maintain health? A cup per day?

Or is it essential for moral to continue the halving and thus never run out of water?

Is it better to drink the last of the water or save it?
 
Based on everything I have read and have been taught in survival training, you should not try to ration water. If you are thirsty and you have water you should drink some. The amount of water can be reduced by limiting physical exertion, particularly during the heat of the day. If possible work and travel at night when it is cool. If you are low on water don’t eat anything, since digestion uses up a lot of water.
 
The results of my studies mirror those of Frank K, which is why I think water storage and planning is usually greatly overlooked (or at least underestimated) by the average amatuer survialist. Considering how much water the average person MUST have, it's easy to calculate that it's most often the first thing you'll run out of, and this is demonstrated in situations like hurricane and flood aftermaths where potable water must be trucked in. This is why I try to maintain three 50 gal drums full of clean water, because it seems like one of the most prudent things you can do, not necessarily just for myself and family, but also perhaps to help out those who weren't as wise, if the need ever arises.
 
I try to maintain three 50 gal drums full of clean water . . . also perhaps to help out those who weren't as wise. . .

Oh no! You sap!

You would not shoot them for trying to steal your water? ;)

My wife and I have the same philosophy, and make preparations to support our friends and family, to the extent possible.

Scott
 
If you've ever been the victim of serious dehydration it tends to make an impression. I once walked 24 miles on two quarts and will never be unprepared like that again. In this case we were hiking to a marked spring, but it was dry, so was the next, and the next. I had figured that two quarts would get me from on to the next but it ended up we had only those two quarts total. At the end of this ordeal I had a splitting, migrane-like headache, impared reasoning, and legs that felt like rubber.

I now carry a full days supply of water on my body unless I am actually camped at a place w/ water or traveling alongside a water source. I also carry reserve water containers such as platypus bags.
You should always have enough containers available to carry your full day's supply of water if you are moving in an area where water is scarce. If water is not readily available in the environmet you need to carry the means to collect water from any available source.

Here in Central Brazil we have a dry season that creates desert-like conditions. Some springs flow year round but they can be few and far between. I carry a soft rag to collect dew and a 60 ml syringe and plastic tube to collect water from seeps and hard to reach places.
 
Yep, rationing water isn't a good idea. I agree that having enough water to get you through an emergency, your hike or whatever is critical to survival. Too many inexperienced people take off on what starts out to be an easy hike, don't expect to be gone long and don't take any water or gear with them. SAR usually finds them laying under a tree in the shade, very dehydrated and only a short distance from a good water source.
 
Originally posted by pict
At the end of this ordeal I had a splitting, migrane-like headache, impared reasoning, and legs that felt like rubber.

That's horrible... and it's roughly the symptoms of a 5% body water loss. At that point, your reasoning gets troubled so much that you often forget which way you have to go, can get lost, make big mistakes etc. Things get a lot worse after that. At some point, you just can't walk anymore, and can't make it to water by yourself. These situations are extremely dangerous.

DO NOT RATION WATER ! Your stomach is the best place to store water ayways ;)

If you know that you will be short water soon, FIND SOME. Limit sweat and other dehydration. Do not eat. Do not wait until your judgment is affected. Get water.

Water, IMO, is the main problem about survival. Always have a way to purify water at hand, and bring along a lot of it. Camelbaks and stuff like that are great.

Cheers,

David
 
My ordeal was in PA in the Appalacian Trail in August. It was just a very dry month. At one point I had laid down to take a rest, when I got back up I put on my pack and headed off down the trail. My brother asked me where I was going. I looked at like he was crazy and said "South". He asked "Then why are you headed back the way we came?"

I confirmed it with my map and compass and he was rigth. My internal "GPS" never did straighten out until we were on the highway headed home.

One thing's for certain though. The lessons you learn the hard way don't get unlearned! Mac
 
Joel,

Yes, especially protien, meat. If you eat meat you need to drink water to digest it or your body will send water to your stomach. Carbohydrates, sugars and starches, also need water but much less. Mac
 
Originally posted by pict
Yes, especially protien, meat. If you eat meat you need to drink water to digest it or your body will send water to your stomach. Carbohydrates, sugars and starches, also need water but much less.

All true.

We need water three times, actually. For digestion/transport, for metabolism (burning), and for eliminating nitrogen derivates that are produced during the burning process (Krebs cycle).

On the other hand, we need water to burn out fat reserves, too. Water makes it easier to access them, and we need some water to burn fat... but less than for digestion + burning...

Cheers,

David
 
Come on, just drink it all up? No rationing at all? How about bathing, etc?

I can't believe you would just drink up all of your water and then lay down and die.

OK, you and your S.O. are stranded such that you can only wait for rescue. You have 100 gallons of water. You ration 5 qts per day each. when you get to 50 gallons, you halve it to 5 pints/day. When you get to 25 gallons you halve to 5 cups per day, etc. Theoretically, you will never run out of water.

At what point is the theory, and accompanying security, no longer worth it? The point where you just finish the water, and wait?
 
Interesting thread.

I remember reading about desert survival, and how many people that die in the desert are within a few yards of water. they rationed to the point they did not have the strength or had lost cognitive abilities to get to the water. I dont know if its true or not, but it seems to dovetail many of the posts about not rationing water. The book also made the point not to ration water.
 
You have 100 gallons of water. You ration 5 qts per day each. when you get to 50 gallons, you halve it to 5 pints/day. When you get to 25 gallons you halve to 5 cups per day, etc. Theoretically, you will never run out of water.

It might be better to keep part of the group at full rations and the others resting and at fractional rations. You will have to nurse those that are down, but at least someone will remain alert longer to do what has to be done.

n2s
 
Water is like air, you can't do without it. There is a point at which you are dehydrated and can't function. Rationing the intake won't stave that off. It is the output that makes you dehydrated and this is only a matter of time for some processes that require water like digestion and urination. Your body will do those things regardless of what you try to do. Don't eat to conserve the water you will loose to digest. Exertion is a huge consumer of water, sweat and muscle activity consume water. You can control your activity and where you rest.

Here in the Central Highlands on a hot day you can easily run through 8 liters of water in a day if you are exerting yourself. If you stay in camp and do normal camp type duties you will drink about 4 liters on the same hot day. At night it actually gets cool outside and you can do plenty by moonlight and only consume a liter or two doing the same activity that would have cost you 8 liters during the day.

You have to keep the water inside your body to eliminate waste from your blood and keep your muscles functioning. Rationing intake and doing things like walk around during the heat of the day is a sure plan for severe dehydration. If your water is really that critical you need to rest during the day and move towards or look for water at nig, sopping up dew with anything you have in the early pre-dawn hours.

Here in the dryest part of the year on the dryest, desert-like, cactus and scrub brush ridgeline I can sop up several liters of water from dew in about three hours of work. That would be enough to live on if I rested in the shade during the day. Mac
 
In construction we call it "falling out". Dehydrating to the point that you lose mental and phisical agility, to the part where you stop sweating. Got me good once and took weeks to fully recover. When you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated.drink every chance you can. POOL
 
Pool,

Exactly right.

Cutler,

Once you get to that "falling out" point a few thimblesfull of rationed water will do exactly nothing to improve your condition.

What is really scary is that on a hot day you can get to that point in a matter of hours. To "not drink for the first 24 hours" is really dangerous, practically ensuring that you will be in the effects of severe dehydration. To ration after that won't help at all.

The only real way to fight it is to conserve the water that is in your body by limiting your food intake and exertion. Move at night and use every expeidient method available to increase your water supply. Carry enough water going in. Carry enough water containers to get you through bad territory. Carry salt or electrolyte tablets or Gatorade mix to replace the salt you loose through heavy sweating.
Severe cramps can kill you if you can't move to find or collest water.
Once you've lost your electrolyte balance more water won't help much.
You will be miserable. Mac
 
sorry to bring back this somewhat old thread but I was reading a bit on the topic and thought I'd comment.

My U.S. Army Survival guide says that you can ration water on a relatively short term basis if it is necessary. As someone else said, "you're not going to drink all your water and then just lay down to die".

The field manual says that if you can maintain a minimal activity level, you can stay healthy on .5 liters a day for at least 2 weeks.

You should learn how to acquire water though. My US Army guide has instructions on building several water procurement methods.

Getting water and shelter should always be 1st priority.
 
Not for nothing, but the US army has not been the wisest of organizations... AND, I don't remember reading that line in any field manual.
 
here's the paragraph from the book:

ration water: Until you find a suitable source, ration your water sensibly. A daily intake of 500 cubic centimeters (0.5 liters) of a sugar-water mixture (2 teaspoons per liter) will sufice to prevent severe dehydration for at least a week, provided you keep water losses to a minimum by limiting activity and heat gain or loss.
 
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