Everyone knows that water is necessary not only for a normal and comfortable life, but also just for survival. But at the same time, not everyone knows how to get water in an extreme situation. But for some people this could well save a life. Therefore, we will talk about several of the most effective methods, but for a start we will delve into the physiology of man.
Importance of water
That the human body is 75% water, is known to almost everyone. But not everyone knows that if this figure drops by more than 5%, human health is at risk. Well, with a loss of 15% of the volume of fluid in the body, death may well occur.
Dehydration leads to the fact that the blood thickens and can no longer freely circulate through the veins. In addition, brain cells with a large loss of water begin to decrease in size and simply can not pass blood with life-giving oxygen. Before death, a person no longer even wants to drink - a sense of reality and all needs are lost, and only the right medical help can save him.
How to live longer without water?
Caught in an extreme situation, you need not only to think about where to get water, but also how to save the reserves available in the body. In this case, you can give some advice. Indeed, even in the hot desert climate, a person can dispense with the existing reserves for a day or two if he does not panic and make dangerous mistakes.
First of all, you should go into the shadows, if any. If possible, build at least a small shelter - it will be much easier to endure thirst. It’s best to move around in a cold night in a hot climate (it’s impossible to fall asleep from the cold anyway), and relax during the day.
If there is water, drink it sparingly, in very small sips. Keep each portion longer in the mouth so that it is absorbed - from here, the liquid will enter the brain faster. Yes, and thirst can be quenched with a smaller volume of water. In no case should you drink alcohol or cigarettes - this leads to the speediest dehydration of the body. There are also undesirable, especially fatty foods. To digest food, the body spends a lot of fluid, which subsequently comes out with feces - this should not be allowed.
Finally, try not to talk and breathe only through the nose - the rate of fluid loss will significantly decrease.
We get water in the desert
Everyone can unexpectedly find himself in an extreme situation, alone with wildlife. And it is good if this happens in a place where mineral water or ordinary water is extracted - the risk of dehydration is sharply reduced. But in the desert it will be much more difficult to survive.
As already mentioned, you should not go out into the sun during the day - you have to act at night. First of all, you need to focus on vegetation. If you meet trees or shrubs, then there is water nearby. Most often, plants are located between high dunes. You have to dig a lot - often the desired liquid is at a depth of 1-2 meters. First comes the burning sand, then cool, and then wet. After digging such a well, wait a few minutes - moisture will gradually collect in the recess, and you can drink it.
If there is a piece of polyethylene, then you can try to make a simple distiller. To do this, a small hole is dug in sand or clay. At the bottom some capacity is laid, around which greens are laid - grass, branches, leaves. All this is covered with polyethylene, the edges of which are fixed with stones - as tightly as possible so that the moisture does not go away. A load is placed in the center of polyethylene (directly above the container) - stone or something like that. Now the greens, heating up from the sand, will release moisture. It condenses on polyethylene and rolls into a container. Yes, you won’t be able to get a lot in this way. But in an extreme situation, every sip is priceless.
Looking for water in the forest
It is much easier for a person lost in the forest. We are not going to list all the ways how to get water in the forest - there are quite a lot of them. Everyone will be able to get water from the stream or dig a hole in the sand 5-10 meters from the river. The easiest way is to put a plastic bag or bag on a tree branch with lots of leaves and tie it tightly. On a hot day, the leaves actively evaporate moisture, and gradually it will accumulate in the bag. With a good deal, you can get up to a glass of water per day.
Having a bag, you can also stuff it with leaves, tie it and leave it in the sun. A garbage bag is perfect. By evening, quite a lot of water will accumulate at the bottom - it is quite possible to quench one person's thirst. It is very important that the water produced in this way does not contain harmful bacteria and microorganisms - plants have already filtered the liquid. The worst that can be in the water is ordinary dust from the leaves. Alas, we will have to put up with this - we will talk about the methods of filtration and disinfection a bit later.
The tree will help with water
There is another way to get water in the forest. And again the tree will help. To do this, you need a sharp object - you need to carefully remove the bark from the tree and make a small, thin, but deep hole. You can insert a tube, the body of a plastic handle or a hollow stem of grass into it. This will allow to direct the produced water to one place convenient for collection.
Moisture, rising along the trunk to branches and leaves, will go out through it. The main thing is to substitute a suitable container so that it does not disappear in vain. This method is most effective in spring, at a time when the buds swell and leaves grow.
Drowning snow
In winter, it is much easier to solve the problem of lack of water. Snow will help. And there will definitely not be dangerous viruses there, and there will be a lot of water. But here you need to know how to get drinking water. It is simply impossible to eat snow in any case. This is not only fraught with colds, but also leads to speedy hypothermia of the body. And in winter, people die from the cold much more often than from thirst. So you need to know how to get water from the snow.
The easiest way is to make a fire and melt the fire in any container. You can use, for example, birch bark. Put a pile of snow on it and place it near the fire. Soon, the snow will melt, and a dense crust will not allow it to flow out. If this is not possible, you can mold a large lump of snow, heat several stones (not red, but so that they are very hot) and put on top of the lump. Snow, melting, will be filtered through a lump and flow down a thin, crystal clear stream.
There is no way to make a fire? It doesn’t matter either. True, you will need a plastic bag or something similar. Type snow into it - tamp tightly, since only a few tablespoons of water will come out of a glass of loose snow - and hide it in your bosom. Yes, the feeling is unpleasant. But soon you can drink water, and not eat cold snow, risking your life.
Is it possible to get water from the air?
But how to get water in the area where there is water, but it is too dirty, for example marshy, or is there a sea with salt water nearby, which is impossible to drink? In this case, you have to get life-giving moisture directly from the air.
Toward evening, the water evaporated during the day and did not have time to evaporate begins to condense. And she does it on any subject. Consequently, you can hang clean clothes, and even better - large pieces of polyethylene - directly above the ground. Moisture will condense on them - you just have to carefully collect it and quench your thirst, getting a few extra hours or days to be saved.
Sometimes the rain saves
Of course, an unfortunate person who finds himself in a difficult situation may be lucky - it will rain. Still, in many regions of our country, and throughout the world, precipitation occurs quite often. The main thing to collect and save this water, and not to let it leak without a trace.
Noticing the first signs of rain, you need to prepare. For example, dig out a few small pits and cover their bottom with burdock leaves so that the water is preserved. If there is excess clothing - spread it on the ground - it will absorb water that can be drunk. The ideal solution would be a large piece of tarpaulin or polyethylene - it is enough to spread them out, slightly raising the edges, and you will immediately become the owner of several liters or even buckets of water.
Filter water
As you can see, there are different ways to get water. But not always is it clean enough to drink. Dirt, impurities, ordinary rubbish - all this makes the drinking process not only unpleasant, but also unsafe. Therefore, filtering is an extremely important step.
The easiest way to clean ordinary rubbish is to pass through any fabric. For example, a clean handkerchief or even a sock, if any, is suitable. However, this will only help get rid of large debris.
To clean up the turbidity will have to use a more complex method. For example, to collect a large lump of grass, ram it tightly and pass water through it - most of the debris will settle on the leaves.
In addition, a funnel can be constructed from birch bark or other suitable material. The drain is slightly clogged with grass. On top of it are small charcoals - the remains of a fire. A thick layer of grass or small leaves is poured onto the coals. Yes, through such a filter the water will be filtered for a rather long time. But at the exit you get completely pure water without any impurities.
There is another way for which you need two containers and a piece of tissue or toilet paper. Dirty water is poured into one container, and tissue or paper is dropped into it. The second end is lowered into an empty container installed a little lower. Water that has wetted the fabric will drain into the container, trapping debris and all impurities in it. At the exit you will get very clean water, but this method takes a lot of time.
Disinfection
Now you know how to get water with your own hands and even clean it. But we must not forget about harmful microorganisms, often found in streams, rivers, lakes and swamps. After all, having made just a few sips of dirty water, a person can get not only a fever (in our country - it is extremely unlikely), but also the usual indigestion, as a result of which he will lose much more moisture than he will receive.
The most reliable way is boiling. Moreover, you need to boil for about 5 minutes, and if the water is taken from the swamp - all 10. There is no way to make a fire? Add a few crystals of potassium permanganate to the water so that it turns pale pink. Potassium permanganate can be replaced with iodine or pantocide tablets. Add the preparation and mix the water well. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes and you can drink it carefully, being careful not to touch the dregs that have settled on the bottom.
You can also throw a handful of rowan leaves into the water - they have bactericidal properties and will destroy most of the harmful microorganisms. The same effect can be achieved using the bark of some trees: oak, willow or willow. The grass will also help - St. John's wort, celandine, chamomile. But still, the effectiveness of such cleaning will be lower than when boiling.
Do not forget about salt
When you have to get water from air, snow or plants, a person gets almost distilled water - there is no salt. But the body needs it for normal functioning. So a few days on such water can be stretched, but a week or more is already doubtful.
Of course, it is unlikely that a person in extreme situations will have salt with him. But if this happens, it makes sense to add a small amount of salt to the water - about 1/4 teaspoon per liter of water. This will restore the salt balance in the body and stretch much longer.
Conclusion
This concludes our article. From it you learned several ways to get water in different natural zones. And at the same time we read about the methods of filtration and disinfection. It is possible that some of the readers of this information will save their lives.