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Stills
Water production by evaporation and condensation
See also Our entire section on Water
Production
In civilization a still or desalination process can be very
elaborate, But for the camper, hiker, disaster victim or any person in a
survival position it must as simple and effective as is possible.
Surprisingly, modified version of these stills would work for flood
victims needing clean drinking water such as the people stranded in New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina. Solar
Bag Still:
Perhaps the easiest method for an individual. Remember when in a survival
situation you may need to be conserving your energy until you have developed
sufficient resources, so easy is good.
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Get a large plastic bag or piece of plastic gathered into
a sack. (Clear and heavy duty preferred but use what you can get)
-
Place a clean rock in the bottom or one corner of it.
-
If you should happen to have a tube to use as a drinking
straw, place one end of it at the bottom along side the rock
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Place freshly harvested vegetation in it until 3/4
full, Use mostly leaves and grasses and crushed twigs and roots (seaweed
would work if you are at sea, but first you must
wash it in the sea and then shake of as much salt
water as possible). Do not use plants that are known to be poisonous or
have irritable sap. (these can be used only in extreme conditions and
must not be dripping sap or touching the sides of the bag. See legal)
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Tie the top of the bag tightly.
-
Place in direct sunlight and either lay it on on a
hillside or suspend it at a comfortable height.
-
Observe the water droplets as they form on the sides of
the bag and trickle down to the bottom. When you see very little forming
compared to the amount when you first set it up it may be from 2 reason:
Either the available moisture has been extracted, it may be time to
replace the vegetation with "fresh" matter, or the sun isn't
striking the bag with enough intensity to be effective.
-
When a sufficient amount of water has collected you can
suck it out if you have the tube, or open the top and remove the
vegetation and then pour it out into storage containers (Ziploc bags work
well). If you like you can cut a small hole in the lowest part of the bag
and drain the water out into a standing container.
Solar Pit Still:
Another simple method of the solar still is a in a Pit form. This works very
well wherever the soil is damp below the surface and will even work in most
desert areas if you can dig deep enough or are able to add vegetation to the
pit. This is exceptional productive in most regions that receive at least
30 inches or more of rain per year.
Pick a sunny, low laying
location. (low laying terrain will more likely be moist than high well
drained locations) -
Locate a large piece of plastic or similar material.
(preferably clear).
Scrape/dig out a hole somewhat smaller than the size of
the plastic in surface area and deep enough to reach moist soil. (It
doesn't need to be wet to the touch but will feel cooler) In the center of the pit place
a catch vessel. If you have a tube, a hollowed
reed or bamboo then place this down the side of the pit and
into the bottom of the catch vessel. (if you had access to bamboo then you
could obtain water from the bamboo plant) If the moisture is too deep or
the digging to tough or even if you want better results you can heap
plants into the pit. Cover the pit with plastic, leaving
the end of the straw tube exposed. Place some of the excavated soil on the
edges of the plastic. Stretch it fairly taut but not to tightly. Place a rock on top of the
plastic directly over the catch vessel. This will create a dimple in the
plastic membrane, causing the the moisture droplets to run down towards
the center and then drip into the catch vessel. As the water collects you can
suck it out if you have a straw or tube. If not you will have to disassemble the
still to access the water in the catch vessel.
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