Following the basic rules of three, we can live without water for three days. That’s not entirely true, but it’s close enough. Water is largely what we’re made of, being between 50% and 60% of our makeup. Water keeps our brains working, flushes toxins out of our bodies and protects our muscles, helps lubricate our joints, and keeps the blood flowing through our veins. We can become dehydrated incredibly quickly, depending on our level of activity, the ambient temperature, and the humidity, so it’s important to keep drinking. A general rule of thumb is, if you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already well on the way to being badly dehydrated.
It is possible to become dangerously dehydrated within 24 hours. Dehydration is when you take in less water than your body is using up in sweat, tears, urination, etc. and it’s very serious. While you can be on day 2 or 3 of not having water and still survive it, it will be a painful survival. After that first day, you are not going to be thinking well, because your brain will not be functioning as easily. You will be sluggish. Your mouth will be dry, and possibly your nose, and skin. You become exponentially more likely to have seizures or experience hypovolemic shock (when your blood volume drops below a certain level). This all has to be kept in mind when you’re dealing with a SHTF scenario. Drinking is going to be incredibly important.
So how do you keep water on hand? That’s something you have to decide for yourself. I live in a water rich area of the world, and so I don’t store a lot of water. I keep enough on hand for 72 hours of drinking and washing (of myself and my dishes), which is about 2 to 3 gallons per person per day. Instead of keeping lots of water on hand, I keep water purification items on hand. I have the means and knowledge to get water, but I’ll need to purify it. To purify water, you have to either boil it, disinfect it, filter it, or treat it with UV light. For safety’s sake, I recommend doing at least two of the four methods, though depending on your emergency, that may change.
Boiling water is fairly simple. You want to bring any water you find to a full, rolling boil (not a simmer, not a low boil) for a minimum of one minute, but up to three minutes depending on your altitude above sea level (higher means more time). This will kill any germs and parasites in the water. Boiled water is almost always safe to drink. You should generally let it cool before you drink it. Note that water contaminated with fuel, radioactive material, or most toxic chemicals will not be made potable by boiling, or any other method.
If you’ve watched any of the survival shows, they tend to boil their water the night before, so it’s ready for the following day. This is a good rule of thumb. Something not everyone thinks of is that you need to keep your boiled water safe from your unboiled water. You don’t want to contaminate it by using a dirty container. Make sure to keep “clean water” and “unclean water” in clearly labeled, separate containers. Don’t pour from one to the other, as it risks cross contamination. Boiling can be done on a stove, in a kettle (if you have electricity), or over a fire.
Disinfecting water is less effective, but better than many other methods. You can use pool shock or household bleach to disinfect water. There are specific ratios for how to use bleach, so be sure to read all the instructions on using them. Print them out and stick them on the fridge, or with your pool shock, or in a bin with your other water purification items. Know where that information is, because it may literally save your life. Be aware that there are a couple of pathogens that continue to live even after being bleached.
Filtering water is probably the method most heard of in the prepping world. We all know about Berkey Water Filters and their knock offs (Berkey is having supply issues, so knock offs might be the way to go). These water filters are huge cisterns that sit on your counter, and use gravity feed through a very good quality filter to provide you with tasty potable water. You can make your own water filter, too. All of these filters are big, though. You’re not going to be lugging them with you while on the go.
What do you do if you’re caught somewhere not at home, and you need water, fast? Try some sort of portable filter. There are many brands out there: Lifestraw, Sawyer, Katadyn, and dozens of others. They all deal with the problems of cross contamination in different ways, so you can choose what works best for you. I like working with filters that have specific ends that touch the contaminated water, which are separate from the clean water after it goes through the filter. It keeps me from messing up. Again, this is a personal choice. I highly suggest picking up a few of the various options, and give them a try while hiking or camping. Practical use and practice is invaluable.
UV light is the last category, one which only made it onto the CDC and Mayo Clinic lists in the past couple of years. The problem with UV cleaners is that they generally work only on clear water. If you get water out of a pond, and it’s slightly cloudy, your UV light will not be effective enough to kill the bacteria within.
Before you ever start purifying your water, you want to run it through a filter to get rid of any big bits. This might be silt or sand, garbage, dead fish, or who knows what. I have found that tightly woven cheesecloth works very well for this, as does a paper coffee filter. The general idea is to just get the chewy bits out before you go trying to purify the water. If nothing else, you can even run water through a tee shirt! This “large” filtering process is not enough to clean the water, though. Don’t get tempted to skip the purification steps. They are important!
Again, I turn to the show Alone and other survival shows. There are always a handful of people who choose not to boil the water on these shows, and more than half of those who choose that path end up with intestinal parasites. You don’t want to end up like them; there’s no one to call on a SAT phone and pull you out. Why do these few people choose not to boil their water? The answer is, it’s time consuming, boring, and feels unnecessary. It absolutely IS necessary, but it feels irritating. We’re so used to having water just come out of the tap that having to wait for water to boil then cool seems like an interminable amount of time. Thirst can overcome your sense of self preservation. Remember that.
Okay, so you have a good quality filter and you’re boiling. You’re all set. Then the water stops coming out of your taps (that will eventually happen in a SHTF scenario, tho there’s no particular timeline for it). Maybe you’ve used up your initial store of water. For whatever reason, you now need to go find water and bring it back to your home. Where do you go? Local lakes and rivers are a good place, though be aware that they’ll be teeming with other people doing the same thing. Spring fed water is the best, if you can find it. Briskly moving rivers come second best, with stagnant water is dead last. You can collect rain water from your roof or via tarps and such. There are lots of ways, but you need to plan for it now and not wait for the emergency to happen. Try spending a summer watering your garden ONLY with water you’ve collected yourself from a variety of places. That should give you a good idea of how it feels.
I know I harp on about practice, but I’m not going to stop. Practicing is the only way to get good at this stuff. Having muscle memory, knowing your plans, being sure of yourself may mean the difference between living through an emergency, and dying. I’d love to have a prepper weekend in the late fall…