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top on the list because of the difficulty in getting it to rain on demand.

4. Collect dew. If weather conditions are right, it is possible that dew will form. Walking through plants with dew on them will soak cloth. Wring the cloth out and start walking again. This method can produce a lot of water from a heavy dew situation.

5. Salt water or alkali pools. Drinking ocean water, salt lakes, or alkali pools will each cause quicker dehydration than not drinking. Salt water will pull moisture from your body due to osmosis. Alkali will make you sick and lead to losing moisture quicker. If those are the sources of water you have access to, you will need to find a way to remove the salts and minerals from the water to make it safe to drink.

Presuming you have a fuel source, build a regular still to remove the contaminants from the water. Build a fire with a pot of water on it. Place a sloped condensing surface - usually a piece of plastic - above the pot with the slope continuing out beyond the fire. At the end away from the fire, have a single low point. This can be at the edge. Place your container for clean water under this point. Keep your pot filled with bad water and your fire going to generate the maximum amount of water to drink.

6. Solar still. A solar still consists of a hole in the ground. This hole needs to reach down to moist soil. Once the hole is prepared, a contained is placed near the middle and your condensing surface - usually a sheet of plastic - covers the hole. A weight is placed on the plastic, over the container to make it sag. The sag is where the water will collect as it condenses out of the air. Once enough water collects, it will begin dripping into your container.

Do not expect much water from this method. A little is better than none, and this is all you are likely to get with this method. If you are on a beach with salt water, digging below the water line so the bottom of the hole is covered with a thin layer of water will increase the output of this method.

7. Green plants. It is possible to get water from plants. There are some plants that you can obtain drinkable water from directly. Unless you can positively identify those plants, do not try it. Plan on having to purify any liquids you are able to get out of the plants that are available. If you are down to trying to get water from green plants, keep in mind that you are in trouble, and it will be a lot of effort for the little you get out.

Myths

There are a couple of myths about getting water that need to be addressed. In no particular order:

A. Drinking from a cactus. It is possible to get liquid from a cactus. Unfortunately, it almost always makes you sick. The result is that you vomit up more moisture than you gained from the cactus to begin with. There is water in there, it takes more work to get it out so it is usable.

B. Dig a hole in a dry stream bed to find water. This will generally not work. Beneath most dry stream beds is just dirt, not an underground stream or even a seep that will fill the hole with water. The only benefit from a dry stream bed is that the dirt may hold some moisture if you are looking to make a solar still.

Good luck, and I hope that you never need to try out these suggestions.

Learn more about this author, Jack Thornton.
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