Water is the single most important essential of survival. A stranded individual may survive for weeks without food, but without water, you'll be lucky to make it a week. The average person needs two liters per day of this necessity. The tough part is finding it and making it drinkable.

Finding Water

Water can be found in many different places. Most of the time, it is common sense, but where it is scarce, one may have to get creative. Here are a few basic places to look:

• First and the most basically, look in natural places where water might collect or run through. This may include rivers, valleys, lakes, ponds, creeks and other places. In many areas, especially in summer, creek beds and gullies are dried up, but usually you can dig in these low, moist grounds to obtain a great deal of valuable water.
• Secondly, a very handy way to obtain water is by gathering rain or dew. This can be done in many different ways. One good idea is to make a large area covered with something that would not soak up the rain such as a poncho, tarp, or any other water-resistant material and place it in an area with a low spot in the middle that the rain can run into. Another way is to soak it up in a cloth of any kind made out of clothing or any other absorbant cloth. Many manuals recommend tying the cloth around your legs and walking through thick vegetation. The cloth may then be rung out.
• An aspect of water not yet covered in this chapter is using animals as signs of water. Mammals and grazing animals usually do not stray too far from a water source and drink at morning and dusk. It is often profitable to follow game trails downhill. Predatory animals are not reccomended as they get their moisture from their prey. Birds also never travel far from water and usually return to it at dawn and dusk. When flying low to the ground, small birds are most likely headed for water. When returning from water, they take frequent rest in trees. Insects are also good indicators of water. Most flies keep within 100 yards of water. Bees fly 4.5 miles from their hives at most, and ants are totally dependant on water. When ants are seen climbing up a tree, they are usually headed for a small reservoir of trapped water. Lastly, reptiles are not good indicators, so never rely on them.
• A very popular way of obtaining water is through condensation. This is very useful and profitable. Simply wrap a plastic bag around a tree branch, bush, or torn off tree limbs with lots of leaves and seal the bag securely. Water from the plants will condensate in the plastic bag.
• Lastly is the solar still, which is made by digging a hole in the ground and placing a clear piece of plastic over the hole, letting it droop down in the middle. Then place a container under the place that is swagging down the most. Throughout the day, water will drip into the container. This has been proven to work very efficiently.

Purification

Purification is very improtant. Never accept any water into your system unless you know it is relatively pure. This can literally mean life or death for the survivor.

• The most common method of purifying water is by boiling. Let the water heat over a fire until it boils for a few minutes. This will rid impurities and kill any bacteria living in it.
• If a filter or purification tablet is available, this is the safest way to go. Instructions are given by the manufacturer for each.
• Quick-made filtration can be made by filtering water through any article of clothing, though this may not remove all harmful substances and should usually be avoided.
• Clean water can, in desperate cases, be extracted from animals by either ringing it out of their bodies or letting it drip out through an incision. Aborigines in Australia actually squeeze water from a desert frog.
• Almost al water obtained from plants is clean, if you can find it. Some plants such as cacti hold water in their stems. Others are shaped as natural reservoirs. These are relatively safe.
• Lastly, all. most all water from snow or rain is relatively pure and can be found easily in some areas.