Outdoor Life Prepare for Anything Survival Manual (26 page)

If you have a bug-infested shack that you need to smoke out, place some red-hot coals in a large sardine can, crumble some dry rotten wood over the coals, and place the container in a fireproof spot inside the shelter. It will create tons of smoke and should resolve your bug troubles—at least for the time being.

Safe drinking water can make or break an emergency situation. Contrary to what you see on many survival shows, it’s never wise to drink raw water from sources in the wild. Numerous pathogens and contaminants can taint the water supply wherever you are and cause serious harm or death if consumed without the right treatment or disinfecting process. Consider these methods to deal with suspected problems.

PROBLEM

One of the most recent innovations in water disinfection is the portable UV light purifier. This device doles out a lethal dose of ultraviolet light, which kills or wounds many different types of waterborne pathogens. There are two main types of UV purifiers to choose from.

Boiling your water before drinking it may seem like a labor-intensive and antiquated method of removing any biological contaminants from a questionable source. In many cases, however, this old-school trick is still the most effective option—killing 100 percent of the living organisms that would cause you to become ill—without having to use any chemicals or specialized equipment.

HEAT SOURCE
Any form of fire will work to provide the necessary heat for boiling water. The heat can even be a byproduct of some other activity, such as a wood stove in your household, or the engine block of your running car.

BOILING CONTAINERS
Metal and even some glass containers can handle the heat. Make sure that the container is a safe material and is set up in a sturdy way. You can boil water in pots, pans, cans, and other metal containers, but avoid galvanized metal, which imparts toxins into hot water. You can even use glass bottles if you place them on the edge of the fire or heat source.

BOIL TIME
Ten minutes of actual boiling temperatures will give you a much safer window of disinfection than the often-recommended one or two. Start your count when the first big bubbles start to jump to the water’s surface. Continue to boil, then let cool completely.

Any cloudiness or significant solids in water will create hiding places for bacteria and other tiny vermin to elude the burning light of a UV device. This can mean that multiple doses of UV light still cannot properly disinfect the water, so make sure you use only clear water with any UV method.

Radiation, lead, salt, heavy metals, and several other contaminants could taint your water supply after a disaster, and if you try to filter them out, you will ruin your expensive water filter. In a scenario where the only water available is dangerous water, there aren’t many options to work with. The safest solution lies in water distillation. Water can be heated into steam, and the steam can then be captured to create pure water—removing many forms of contamination, including radioactive fallout. Distillation won’t get out all possible contaminants, such as volatile oils and certain organic compounds, but it will work on most heavy particles.

A quick way to make a steam distiller is by using a pressure canner and a length of small-diameter copper tubing. The best part of this operation (aside from getting safe water) is that the canner stays intact. This allows you to shift gears from water distillation to food preservation very easily (assuming you are not dealing with radiation). The only tricky part is getting the copper line fitted to the steam vent on the canner’s lid.

SET UP
Locate a canner and about 4 feet (1.2 m) of 1/4-inch (6-mm) copper line. Set your canner pot on your stove top, over a camping stove, or over an improvised cinderblock fireplace. Fill your canner pot two-thirds full with questionable water and screw on the canner lid. This can be saltwater or muddy water—any water except that tainted by fuels (which evaporate at low temps).

CREATE YOUR COIL
The coil, also known as the worm, is made from copper line coiled in a downward spiral. Use a stick or some other support for the coil to avoid stress on the joint at the canner’s steam vent. Ream out one end of the copper tubing and force it down over the steam fitting on top of the canner lid if it’s smaller than the steam vent. Compress the line if it’s bigger than the vent. Tie this joint with rags or dope it with a paste of flour and water once everything is in position.

LIGHT IT UP
Whether a stove or a campfire powers your still, you’ll have to play with the size of the fire for best results. If you run it too hot, you’ll just blow steam out of the coil. If you run it too cool, nothing will happen. Start out with a small amount of heat, and work your way up if needed. Once the pot gets close to boiling, water should start to pour out of the coil. The surrounding air will naturally cool the copper, and the steam will condense into distilled, drinkable water.

The solar still is a simple invention that collects water and distills through a greenhouse effect. It’s not perfect, nor does it collect massive quantities of water, but it does provide fresh water in arid climates and it can effectively desalinate saltwater.

In the original method developed in the 1970s, a square of clear or milky plastic is draped over a pit with a clean cup in the bottom. The plastic at the edge of the pit is sealed with a rim of dirt or stones to keep any of the steam from escaping. The plastic sheet is weighed down in the middle with a small rock, pushed down to shape the plastic into a cone shape. The sun will create a steamy environment under the plastic, and the steam will condense on the underside, running down into the cup below. Each site works for days, and you may get a up to a liter of water per still per day.

STEP 1
Set up the still in a sunny area with the dampest dirt or sand available.

STEP 2
Make certain that the point of the cone of plastic is directly over the container inside the still.

STEP 3
Add vegetation inside to increase production.

STEP 4
Urine can be recycled by peeing down a hole dug next to the still so the liquid can soak through the ground and vaporize into the still.

STEP 5
A rubber, plastic, or vinyl drinking tube can be placed in the cup and lead outside the still. This way, water can be sipped as it collects without having to take the whole still apart to get the water out.