2021-010 | HYDRATION & WATER SANITATION

OUTDOORS COMMON SENSE TIPS: Never ever trust a stream for your drinking water. If you must, please boil it first.

 

First seen in Facebook

February 4, 2018

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THERE WAS ONE SURVIVAL MANUAL that I read many years ago that says: if you ran out of water and you happen to chance upon a stream, choose the middle part where current is strong, for it is good for drinking. What? There must be no schistosomiasis cases in their area but there must be amoebiasis, cryptoporidiosis and giardiasis somewhere. Do not forget salmonella and E. coli too. 

Of course, I would drink it from anywhere when if I was chased by a hundred cannibals. Kidding aside, clean drinking water is very important when you are outdoors; much more so when you are on survival mode. Never let untreated water be the reason why you lived a tormented existence as you find your way in the wilderness to find help. Never do shortcuts when ingesting liquid into your system.

 

The best thing to do is strain it from debris and boil it. Boiling kills all parasites and bacteria. Boiling temperature is when you see bubbles at the bottom of your cup or pot. It is already 100 ˚C and nothing could survive that. A word of advice: Boiling would never turn brown turpid water into clear spotless water. The best course of action for you is deceive your eyes and drop powdered juice over it. 

Chemicals, overruns from big plantations, industries and farms which found its way to streams, can never be removed by filtration, by chlorine and by boiling. It stays as micro sediments and does not evaporate. The only way to remove it is by evaporation and condensation; or distillation. It stays in the bottom because it is heavier than air during an evaporation process. 

If you really are a poor fellow, because you are unprepared, you do have a cup and a bottle but you have no matches nor lighter, the best thing for you to do is dig a hole beside a stream. By your action, you are making a shallow open well and water filled it up quickly. The water is full of silt but it is clean because it is strained by sand and clay from the main source, which is the stream.

 

You let the silt settle down. After an hour, you line the sides and bottom of the hole with small stones, gingerly and carefully so you would not disturb the silt. When it is done, fill your cup with water and strain water into the bottle. Despite your best efforts, silt would still be found in your bottle. Again, let it settle at the bottom for an hour and you may start to rehydrate. 

If I have a portable water filter (Lifestraw©, Aqua Mira©, Sawyer©), I could drink directly from a stream. If I do it on a water hole I made, the possibility of the silt clogging the filter is great, hampering its efficiency and its lifetime, so I do not want to sip in water from there. The best choice really is directly upon a stream, parasites or none. 

Another method of sanitizing your water for drinking is by dropping a pinch of chlorine granules. Let the granules dissolve in your water for, at least, 30 minutes to an hour. It has a tangy aftertaste. The more minutes it stayed, the better your water tastes. The same process is applied when you use water purification tablets and drops of betadine.

 

Do not be a poor unprepared fellow. Carry always with you matches and lighter, a portable water filter, chlorine, betadine and purifying tablets. Hey, these are very light and small items. Do not squirm! Redundancy increases your security. Remember that always.       

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WARRIOR PILGRIMAGE BLOG, personified by this writer, is synonymous with the Outdoors, since Bushcraft and Survival is its niche. Safety and Security are its bedrock when it ventured into organizing outdoor events that involved people as in adventure/pilgrimage guideships and seminars; and explorations and expeditions. 

Through tutorship, experience, folk knowledge and good old common sense, this writer was able to collect useful information which he is currently documenting in a book titled, ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. He shares some of this information and knowledge in his training sessions; in his social-media account; and in this blog.