Thursday 16/04/15
At home, water is easy to obtain….. just turn on the tap. But would you know how to find water outside the urban environment if you didn't have access to a stream, pond or other body of water?
There are many methods of acquiring water; some of them are more complicated than others. I’m only going to discuss a couple of the easy ones.
Method One:
If there are trees nearby and you have a large plastic bag, you are already half way to getting your drink. Make sure the plastic bag is clean and preferably unused. Slip the plastic bag over the end of a low-hanging leafy branch and tie the open end of the bag around the branch with a piece of string. If you don’t have any string, a bootlace will do. I prefer to use black garbage bags because they absorb the most heat from the sun, even on overcast days. Basically, you are trying to sweat water out of the tree, just like a sauna. So, the leafier the branch and the hotter it is inside the bag, the more water you’ll collect. It will take a few hours to collect even a few mouthfuls of water, so set up as many bags as you can spare. It is advisable to tie or weigh the end of the branch down to avoid your water leaking out along the branch.
Method Two:
You will need a plastic sheet (slicing a garbage bag open, along the seams will do), a clean container such as a plastic bowl or tin mug, a shovel or other digging implement, a good supply of small, smooth stones, and a patch of ground with lots of exposure to the sun.
- Dig a hole in the ground approximately fifty centimetres deep and slightly smaller than your sheet of plastic. Damp (not sloppy) ground is preferable.
- Put your cup/bowl/tin in the middle of the hole.
- Lay plastic sheet over the top of the hole.
- Weigh the plastic sheet down by placing the stones at even intervals around the edge of the hole.
- Put one stone in the middle of the sheet, directly above your container, so the middle sinks in at a noticeable angle.
This method works in a similar way to putting a plastic bag over a branch. The sun heats up the air inside your pit, causing moisture to evaporate from the ground. The moisture collects on the plastic sheet then runs to the lowest point (the rock in the middle). It forms drips which drop into your container. To increase the amount of water you collect, scatter leaves in the bottom of the pit. Damp ground is ideal, but if the ground is sloppy or unstable, you run the risk of the edge of your pit collapsing when you walk near it. The evaporation process can take hours, so be patient. When you remove your sheet, be careful not to damage the edge of your pit and make sure you don’t kick sand into your water.
**Very important tip: DO NOT USE TOXIC PLANTS. **
Like I said at the beginning, there are many methods of gathering water; these two have worked for me.