Here is part two in my ongoing in-depth look at Paul Risk’s boo. “Outdoor Safety and Survival.” In this review, I want to look at chapter 6, “Water Procurement and Treatment.”
This title is a common heading in any survival manual. Water is one of the most important things to think about during any outing. Bring water with you whenever you are going out into the woods should be a given. More people today do not carry things like this with them. This lack of preparedness is a terrible habit. You should always start the trip into the woods with 1 or 2 liters.
Paul Risk starts off the water procurement chapter with standard physical requirements for average people. He references USAF table data on page 66. Here is the table.
The first thing you should notice is that the table has broken down water requirements by activity level and available water. This breakdown is an excellent method. It differs from the usual rule of threes preached by every survivalist on TV and Youtube.
Reality is your environment, and physical conditioning will dictate how much water your body needs. A person out of shape will require more water as will elderly and younger children. The higher the temperature and the higher the activity levels you are under mean you need more water to stave off dehydration.
The average person can sweat out 1 to 2 liter an hour under the right conditions. This massive loss of fluids means you need to replace them immediately, or you will begin the process of dehydration. Reality is a person, not accustomed to being in extreme heats will dehydrate quickly.
The next sections I want to touch on are how to find and collect water. The author goes into detail here about places you can collect water and what its purity will be. This knowledge is useful information to those that venture out and aren’t familiar with the threats of unknown water sources.
On page 75, Risk starts going into water stills. Creating methods of water collection like this that work while you are not doing anything is excellent. The bad thing is that they do not produce enough water to survive. You can use methods like this to support existing water sources. You can also make multiple stills to increase your water collection.
Now, this book is many years old. Some information in this section is not an accurate representation of modern technology. Water filters are much better today than they were in the 1980s. Also, chemical water purification times and methods vary greatly so; please read any instructions that come with the product.
Here are five key things to remember when thinking of water.
- Plan routes to map out water sources.
- Make a camp where you can refresh your water reserves.
- Carry water with you.
- Carry a means of purifying more water.
- Remember to drink is especially relevant when you are in colder climates and will not feel as thirsty.
Here is the basic information, You decide the outcome!
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