I've not read EVERY post here but failed to notice a mention of this subject in the ones I have ready. A solar still is a way to glean water and have that water come in a usable fashion. Wikipedia has an article about solar stills and a link to how to make one. While the yield is only a quart per day, this may be enough to prolong life, until rescued.
they've been mentioned in other threads, but I don't think there is an entire thread for the subject... :thankyou: IMO a lot of information on wikicrapia is inaccurate to various degrees, so make sure to TRIPLE-check anything you read on it.
In a Nutshell - Solar Still. Dig a hole. Place a can to hold water at the bottom of the hole. Place a piece of plastic over the hole using rocks or whatever to hold the plastic in place. Place a rock in the center of the plastic forming a funnel shape directly over the can. Keep the funnel shape from touching the insides of the hole. The temperature difference with cause water to condensate on the inside of the plastic and drip into your container.
Adding to the "nutshell", don't forget 1) a good seal around the outer edge of the plastic sheet and 2) a piece of tubing running down to your collection container, so you don't have to remove your plastic to get at the water. Advanced solar still: make the hole a little larger and put green leafy material around the bottom of the hole. As the sun warms the vegetable matter, the vapors will condense and give a higher water yield. Leave one corner of the plastic loosely secured (use a board vs. lotsa rocks) to change out the green stuff as needed. Do not pour waste water directly in the bottom of the hole; you can contaminate your container and get sick. Instead, dig small perimeter holes, at least 12" from the edge of your main still hole, to pour the waste water in. The soil will help to filter out contaminates, and while you won't get 100% reclamation, the saturated soil will give a decent yield. Some folks I know put liquid human waste in the "filter holes", but I just don't go there. Maybe Kevin Costner can drink filtered pee, but I will exercise all my other options first, thank you.
Here is a photo of a water still: Desert Survival: The Solar Still (DesertUSA) Water can also be distilled to purify it. You can do this easily with two kettles, one that fits inside another. The outer kettle needs to have a lid. The outer kettle is filled to within an inch of so of the inner kettle so that when the water is boiled it will not boil into the inner kettle. The inner kettle is empty. When the water is boiled or simmered, the steam will rise and hit the cover of the pan and will fall as water into the inner kettle. This is pure water. Of course, boiled water will kill microbes, but it will not remove chemicals that might be in the water. Some filters will remove chemicals, usually the charcoal filters. Distillation will also remove many chemicals, though possibly not all of them since some of the chemicals can also evaporate with the steam.
