“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink,” as the old saying goes. A more apt statement for these times might be, “water, water everywhere, but is it safe to drink?”
Sadly, in this day and age there are few, if any, places where the water is safe to drink without treating, no matter how pristine and inviting it may look.
Water in the wild often contains harmful microorganisms, bacteria and parasites that can cause a variety of ailments, such as giardia, dysentery, hepatitis, and hookworms. Luckily, however, there are many simple and diverse methods to treat water to make it safe for consumption.
The simplest method to purify water is probably boiling.
You need to bring the water to a full, rolling boil for at least five minutes to be safe, with some experts recommending an even longer time. The down side to boiling your drinking water is that it removes the oxygen and the water ends up tasting flat. You can improve its quality by pouring it back and forth between two containers to put oxygen back in, or simply shake it up.
There are also several chemical purifiers on the market. Iodine comes in either liquid form, (which can be messy), or tablet form.
One to two tablets or drops will clear up a quart of water. Shake your container and wait twenty minutes before drinking. Water treated with iodine will have a darker color and a bit of an unpleasant flavor.
A third method of treatment is commercial filters. These come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. Most work by pushing the water through a charcoal or ceramic filter and then chemically treating it. ...more
April 16, 2009 Contributor Wilderness Survival
Animation from http://www.free-animations.co.uk/
Fire safety tips from http://www.smokeybear.com/campfire-safety.asp
The three basic necessities which sustain life are:
1. air
2. water
3. food.
The Rule of Threes states that a person can live for:
three-minutes without air,
three-days without water, and
three-weeks without food....more
http://survival-expert.com/quiz.htm
afitzgerald@benton.k12.wi.us
