4 essential things you need to survive
Water in nature is easier to find than you might expect.
But if you want to know how to survive in nature, you must learn the basic survival rules. In order to start learning, you need to know your needs and your priorities.
The list of essentials is short. Firstly, you cannot survive without air, water, shelter, and food. Now that you know the four things you can’t live without, you have to learn how to find them in the wild. So, you need to focus on what must be done if you want to survive. Secondly – do not panic.
Table of Contents
Why these four things are essential?
Without oxygen, you will die in 3 minutes Without shelter, you will die in 3 hours Without water, you will die in 3 days Without food, you will die in 3 weeks Unfortunately, many people simply do not plan far enough ahead. When going out into nature they are completely unable to survive.
They don’t carry a compass with them, they don’t have a map, and they don’t have any water and food reserves or minimal reserves.
Such assumptions and attitudes towards survival in nature lead them to problems. Whether you’re hiking or spending time in nature, anything can happen when you get out into it. That’s why you have to be prepared. Above all, preparation includes the knowledge of finding water.
Hydration is essential
Two-thirds of your body is made up of water. Also, your body is constantly losing water through sweating, digesting, food, and expelling bile. Your body loses water even as you breathe.
The water in your body is used to regulate body temperature. It flushes out toxins from the body and helps the digestion of food. No matter how physically fit and healthy you are, you cannot survive without fluid intake for more than three days.
dehydration
A minimum of 3 to 4 liters of water is needed every day for the normal functioning of your body. If you are in a difficult situation in nature, you must know that your body begins to dehydrate after six hours without water.
The moment your body experiences dehydration, it means you start losing more water than you take in. Your physical and cognitive abilities are affected by the loss of even one percent of water.
The bottom line is that you must try by all means to conserve water in your body. To prevent dehydration, do not expose yourself to the sun.
As much as you can, leave all your physical activities until dusk, night, or dawn. In this way, you prevent unnecessary sweating. A big danger that causes dehydration is the consumption of polluted water or eating some herbs that cause diarrhea or vomiting.
Make a list of priorities
According to surveys, the first thing most people would take in nature is food. Therefore, most people would first provide themselves with a source of food. But if you are in the wild you must remember your priority. The order of importance is water in nature shelter, and then food.
How to find drinking water in nature?
Finding a source of water in nature is the first priority. The best and easiest solution is to find a source of fresh water or a stream. If you are not able to do that, it is good to find a lake, river, or pond.
Such waters are the habitat of harmful microorganisms. So this water is not the best choice. It’s possible that you won’t find one or the other near you. In that case, you must some other techniques to find water.
Remember that the living world gathers around water sources. So, you need to look for areas with dense vegetation, and swarms of insects or follow any animal tracks.
Engage all your senses
While looking for water in nature, pay attention to areas where the grass is greener and look for plants that love water like rushes, willows, reeds, water lilies, and water lilies.
While looking for water in nature, you can look at the sky and follow the direction in the birds are flying.
Birds generally fly towards the water source at dawn and early evening. Rely on your hearing as well. Try to find out if there is a sound of birds or the sound of frogs nearby.
What to do when you finally find water?
Firstly, when you find water in nature you must purify it. The good thing to do is to boil it. The EPA suggests boiling water for 60 seconds if you are at an altitude below 2000m and 3 minutes if the altitude is above 2000m.
If you are not in a situation to boil the water or distillate it – do not drink it. If there are beaver dams in the river, be careful. Such water contains bacteria that cause diarrhea and vomiting.
Do not drink the water directly. Use a bottle or other container. It is important to put some fabric over the opening of the bottle, before drinking and filling it with water. The fabric acts as a filter that prevents sediments and insect larvae from entering the bottle.
Rainwater
The second best source of drinking water in nature is rainwater, it is the freshest water in nature.
As soon as it starts to rain, place as many clean bottles or canisters as possible. If you have plastic bags, a raincoat, or a tarp, place them in the depressions on the ground, to collect the water.
Or simply dig a shallow hole in the ground and place your bag or sack, raincoat or tarp inside and continue collecting water.
Dew is not always a good solution!
If you are not a connoisseur of plants, it is not a good idea to randomly remove dew from leaves and branches.
Many plants are poisonous and could cause problems for your health. Instead, look for morning dew on grassy areas or rocks. You can also collect the dew with an item of clothing that absorbs liquid well. Soak the cloth and then squeeze it into a bottle or canister.
Build a Solar Distillery
Another way to provide yourself with drinking water in nature is to build a solar still. It is recommended to make your distillatory at dusk or early dawn. In that way, you will protect yourself from dehydration, because it requires physical activity.
You need to dig a hole deep enough to fit your canister or bottle. Then take a tarp or plastic bag and cover the hole. Secure that bag with something heavy.
It could be a rock, a large tree, or anything that can keep it taut. Place the small stone In the middle, right above the opening of the canister, place. It will allow the part of the cover above the water collection tank to fall. When the sun starts to shine, the soil in the hole will start to evaporate. Water will condense on the underside of the cover and begin to drip into the canister.
Snow and ice?
If you find yourself out in nature in the winter and need to hydrate, snow and ice are excellent for hydration. But, it is recommended to melt them first, because they can dangerously lower your body temperature and put you at risk of hypothermia.
Chemical purification of water in nature
If you are planning to stay a long time in nature, it is a good idea to provide yourself with water purification tablets. A few tablets are enough.
They dissolve in water in 15-30 minutes. Purifies polluted water from viruses, microorganisms, and bacteria harmful to human health. And if they are not as effective as boiling water, they are a convenient way to help you purify your water.
Filters for water purification
There are a number of mobile water purification filters. They all have the same purpose. If you don’t own one, you have to use what you have at hand. If there is silt in the water, wait for the dirt to fall to the bottom.
You can use a piece of clothing to clean the water of large impurities before drinking it. You can use a bottle with a cut bottom, which you will first fill with small gravel and sand, then pour some water and let it filter naturally by passing through the sand.
UV lights for water purification
There are also UV water filters on the market. UV sterilization or UVGI germicidal radiation is a good solution for purifying water in nature. It is similar to the sun’s rays and breaks the DNA of microorganisms on the spot. This is a device that purifies your water with UV light.
UV light will kill bacteria and viruses. The process is the same as for another filtering. Firstly, it is necessary to purify the water from sediments, and then continue the purification with UV rays.
The sun as a water purifier
Sunlight and its UV rays can be used to purify water. The procedure is simple. Water is poured into a container and left to stand under the sun’s rays. If the sun is strong, one day is enough. If not, it takes two days. This type of water purification has the same effect as purifying water with a UV light device.
Liquids to avoid
Although we often hear and read that some people survived thanks to urine, don’t use it. Urine is excreted from the body, because it is made up of waste that the body throws out, and it is also salty.
Alcohol is fine under normal circumstances, but it causes dehydration and can make you intoxicated, and you don’t want to be in that state when you’re trying to survive.
Nothing can replace natural water.
Conclusion
Water is essential for life. We have described the ways by which you can get to drinking water in nature. According to world statistics, every day more than ten people get lost in nature, and two of them die.
These are numbers that are known, but there are many cases that are not reported.
All this happens because individuals go out into nature without preparation. The main problem with lack of water and dehydration is that people become disoriented and get lost in the forest or wilderness. That’s how one gets from one problem to another.
If you are properly prepared, have enough knowledge, and are equipped with adequate supplies, your chances of survival are high.