WATER Flashcards
Why is water so important to survival?
Body composed of 75% fluid
5% drop in fluid will cause 25% drop in energy.
80% people suffer fatigue based on chronic dehydration.
15% drop will cause death.
What is usual daily loss of water for human body and equivalent size measurements to replace?
- 1/2 gallon loss
- 1/2 gallon same as:
2 liters
8 X 8 oz water
What size is average water bottle and how many to equal a gallon ?
- Avg size is 500 ml
- 7.5 bottles =1 gallon
How to modify water bottle into a rain collector
Pound cake water distiller
Locating water in arid places
- ascend to high ground before shelter for day, look for veg tracks, animal tracks and dry riverbeds
- Dry rivebeds - can hold water within 1 foot of surface
- collect dew - one meter square cloth can collect 1/2qt per night
- vegetation - broad leaf trees/plants signal water source
- Insects - swarms mosquitos, flies or bees can indicate water source
Pot and cup distiller
cloth distiller
- Heat water to boiling in pot
- tie cord to two sides of a cloth piece to act as handles
- pull the cloth tight over the vessel and steam will begin to collect in cloth
- once saturated, move cloth through air to cool, then wring out into a clean container.
Five water collection methods
Soda can Salt to fresh water distiller
Plastic water bottle holding a layered sediment filter
When and how to use descending size layered filter
- Gold standard - prefilter with filter then boil
- second best - if desperate and can’t take time to boil, then filter alone
- Charcoal most important layer - binds to toxic substances, can tx flatulance and poisoning.
Method of boiling to achieve clean water
- Bring water to rolling boil
- Continue for 1 minute + and additional minute per 1000 ft elevation.
Water purification with chlorine 5 to 6%
- 2 drops per quart or liter
- 8 drops per gallon
- Double amount cl- if water cloudy or very cold
- let stand for 30 minutes before drink.
water purification with chlorine, 1-2% or unknown %
- 10 drops per quart/liter
- 40 drops per gallon
- Double amounts cl- if water cloudy or very cold
- Let sit for 30 minutes before drink
shelf life of liquid Chlorine
6 months, then starts to degrade
water purification with tincture of iodine (2%)
- 5 drops per qt/liter, 20 per gallon
- double if cold/murky
water purification with povidone iodine
- 6 drops per liter/qt
- Double if cold/murky
Disinfecting container when using chemical water purification
- add chemical
- put bottle lid back on, shake bottle
- turn bottle upside down
- unscrew cap just enough to let a little water flow through threads and out of cap.
- Screw cap lid back on tight
- wipe down exterior to disinfect. Let sit for time chemical needs
Container considerations when boiling water
- never use galvanized
- Single wall steel ideal, never heat double wall, explodes.
- Glass - heat slowly on edge of fire to avoid flash heating and breaking
Pipe water to a camp
Water from transpiration bag
Leafy tree in bright sunshine
Rock in bottom of bag, wrap around leaves, blow up bag if can.
Tie off bag, check later for condensation.
Pressure cooker distiller
Fill canner 2/3 full of water
Don’t want heat to high, just blows pressurized steam out joints, but need hot enough that forming steam. Experiment with heat level
what pathogens does boiling kill and when?
- Kills all biologics - bacteria, viruses and parasites
- all dead before even reach rolling boil.
how to disinfect pot will be using to boil water into pure water
- bring small amount of water to a boil, swirl around the pot to clean off all the side walls, then pour out.
- refill the pot and bring water to rolling boil
- pour a 1/4 cup out to sterilize rim of pot and then use that same side tipping orientation to fill your bottles.
improving taste of boiled water
- boiling water removes much of the free O2 and gives a flat taste
- pour water back and forth between two clean containers to aerate (return free O2)
- add drink flavoring agents
when converting water from frozen state to liquid, what is best water source?
Ice. Contains less impurities and converts to more water then same volume of snow.
3 best methods of melting snow or ice for fresh water
- fabric container (tshirt, bag, pillowcase, etc), cut small hole in corner, fill with snow/ice, then hang near fire. Bottle/pot benath to catch melting water. Always keep container filled with snow/ice or will burn.
- Melt in pot over fire. Start with small amount of water and heat slowly, then add bulk. This will keep pot from scorching and creating burned taste. Heat slowly.
- if no other option, put snow/ice in waterproof container and put between layers of your clothing, NOT DIRECTLY ON YOUR SKIN. Shake bottle often to accelerate.
weight per gallon of water
8 pounds per gallon
boiling water in a large leaf
- lay leaf into coals
- QUICKLY fill leaf with water
- Heat conducts into water instead of leaf, so only areas that don’t have water should burn (edges of leaf)
why is rainwater best way to source fresh water?
Doesn’t require filtration or purification if collected on a clean surface
Rainwater collection with an umbrella
- Flip umbrella upside down, place into mouth of a clean bucket.
- poke a few holes in the apex of umbrella
- 3’ diam umbrella can harvest 3 gallons per 1” of rain.
what is solar water bottle disinfection and limitations?
- put drinking water in clear plastic bottle and leave in direct sun for 1 full day or 2 days if cloudy.
- Must have strong sun, so best effect when in equatorial regions or nearby
- Kills bacteria and virus, but not 100%.
- Must be in bottle 2L or smaller
normal Chlorine level of a pool versus level that safe to drink
- pools usually kept at 3 to 5 ppm to kill algae and bacteria
- can drink 4 ppm or less safely
Site selection for digging a well?
- digging near the base of a hill or near an active stream/river
- Do NOT drill in a low lying area that is prone to flooding. Floods can introduce contaminants into well.
Method of well digging
Dangerous. Wall collapse or underground gases (like methane) used to kill frequently. Take slow and have helpers
- Dig a round shaft 5 feet wide and dig straight down. Use rocks tied to strings hanging from mouth of well to guide you straight down.
- If you have to dig more then 15 feet deep, be certain tapering walls inward as you go and keep people on standby to help in event of collapes.
- Rocks ringing around mouth of well to stabilize ground and minimize erosion back into well
how to dig a gypsy well
- Only filters out large contaminants
- works best in sandy, silty or loamy soils. Mud and clay won’t allow water to percolate effectively
- dig a small well (1 ft down and wide minimum) about a foot away from the questionable water source.
- Wait. Hours or overnight.
- Collect and disinfect (ideally thermally)
Turning tub into reservoir during an emergency
Finding fresh water at beach
Rainwater can sit overtop of salt water in dunes.
Dig down until hit damp in low point behind first or second dune from ocean.
Tide can effect, so experiment with different times of tide.
Boiling water with rocks
- collect 24+ egg sized rocks to boil 4 qts/L
- Heat by placing in fire for 30-45 min
- use split wood tongs or Y Stick to pick up the rocks and drop into your water
- Use 1-2 hot rocks at a time, rotating cool ones out and hot ones in.
Tripod layered water filter method
Charcoal - use small chunks, not powder which will clog filter. Dont put white or grey ash in, will create lye.
Water distiller by river
Cloth filter efficiency?
NIH studies in bangladesh
- one layer cotton filter (shirt, etc) decreased cholera outbreaks by 50%
- 4 layers of older cotton used for filter decreased all cholera bacteria by 99%.
- ideally would still boil, so this is just a great way to start preboiling process.
