How to construct a solar still For Water

Make a Solar Still I’m usually wary of survival techniques that include digging a hole. Nonetheless, solar water collection may be an effective means of collecting water, especially in a dry environment like a desert. 

 

A sunny position, a container in which to capture the water, a transparent plastic sheet of 6 square feet (.5 m2), and some form of weight to lay on top of the plastic are all required to build a solar still. A shovel or trowel will also come in handy for digging a hole.

 

 

If you have a big container, such as a barrel, you can make a solar still without excavating a hole. I had one half of the enormous plastic container that my life raft had arrived in while I was living on a tiny tropical island off the coast of Belize. I was able to save a lot of time and effort by using this container.

 

 

Making solar stills may take a couple of hours (or more), and the output isn’t very high. The amount you receive is mostly determined by the ambient temperature, the sorts of flora you include, and direct sun exposure.

 

This kind of still may generate water for two to four days depending on the moisture content of the soil or sand, and it must be moved often. However, it has the additional benefit of serving as a wonderful dew or rain-catch on the exterior. To satisfy your daily water consumption demands, you’ll probably need at least three solar stills.

 

 

The steps for making a solar still are as follows:

1. Choose a sunny location where you think the soil has the greatest moisture. The better the site, the lower and damper it is.
2. Dig a bowl-shaped hole 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter and 2 feet (.5 meter) deep.
3. Fill the hole with non-poisonous vegetation if possible. Pour salt water, bacterially infected water, or urine into and around the hole.
4. Place your collecting receptacle at the bottom of the hole, ideally in its own tiny hole (the broader the better). Allow no contaminated water, salt water, or urine to enter the container (cup).
5. If you have a drinking tube (or can make one out of readily accessible materials), place it in the receptacle and extend it out so that it ends above ground. You may walk up to the still and sip from it without disturbing it thanks to the tube.

The hole should be covered with a plastic sheet that is fastened around its circumference with pebbles or other heavy materials. Place a small rock or other heavy item in the middle of the plastic sheet, ensuring that the sheet’s lowest point is precisely over the receptacle.

 

 

The principle behind a solar still is that solar energy passes through the plastic sheet and warms the air, earth, and plant (if any) in the hole.
Moisture from the soil evaporates and condenses on the plastic’s low point, which is present in all soil. Adding non­poisonous flora, such as leaves, grasses, or seaweed, may assist speed up the process, and since solar stills purify water, the condensed water collected on the bottom of the sheet is safe to drink.

 

 

 

How to Make a Solar Still

1. As a last­ditch water­making technique, the solar can still generate and filter enough water to last you a while. In the midst of a vegetation-lined pit, place a receptacle.
2. Cover the hole with a plastic sheet and place a stone over the receptacle. The droplets that condense from the plant are caught and collected in the receptacle underneath the plastic.

 

Plant-derived water

Heat extremes are a way of life for the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. They have learned the ability of extracting water from plants in order to adapt to this hard environment. They have the ability to travel large distances in search of roots, which they chop into bits and mash. They are replenished by the water they squeeze out and swallow.

 

 

The Bushmen know that water may be found anywhere there is foliage. However, in most instances, the procedure is excruciatingly slow and just generates enough liquid to moisten the tongue.

 

 Furthermore, to be able to detect and accurately identify a water­bearing root or plant, you or I will need assistance from a local expert. Even still, the odds of locating one of these plants are tiny, making it unworthy of most people’s time and effort.

 

There are a few significant exceptions to the norm, notwithstanding my reservations about depending on plant organs for water. Green bamboo is a great source of odorless, pure water. Bend the green bamboo stalk, secure it with a knot, and chop off the top. During the night, water will trickle from the stem into a waiting container.
Water may also be obtained by reaching inside a decaying birch tree, taking out the moist, spongy, and punky wood, and squeezing it in your hands.

 

 

If you have a tool to chop one down, banana or plantain trees may also give water. Chop down the tree, leaving a 12 inch (30 cm) high stump.
Scoop off the middle of the stump to create a bowl­shaped hole; water from the roots will quickly fill the hollow. The first few fillings are going to be bitter, but the rest should be OK. For a few days, the stump will provide water.

 

If you know how to recognize vines, they may be a valuable supply of water.
(Poison ivy and moonseed are both toxic vines that may be found across the world, not only in tropical tropics.) A water vine I discovered while living for a week in the Georgia marshes had the most water I’ve ever found in a plant.

 

Cut a notch as high as you can reach to harvest water from a vine.
Make sure this is the initial incision; cutting the bottom first will cause the water to withdraw due to capillary action. Cut the vine close to the ground next. Fill a jar or your lips with the juice that falls from the chopped vine. When I was in the Georgian marshes, I just cut one end of the vine and let it drip into a can for hours, resulting in fresh, clear water (and a few swimming ants).

 

Plants like the pitcher plant in northern Ontario operate as natural receptacles, capturing water in their cup­shaped chambers. However, you must have received on­site plant identification training to ensure that you are collecting water from non­poisonous plants.

 

Though it is not water, the milk from unripe (green) coconuts will offer your body with much­needed moisture. While milk from mature coconuts may keep you alive for a while, keep in mind that it contains a laxative oil. I have, however, lasted for a week on coconut water combined with rainfall in two different tropical regions with no negative consequences.

 

Water may also be obtained from the following plants (most of which are located in tropical areas):

A sweet, drinking liquid is found in palms such as buri, coconut, sugar, rattan, and nips. The tree will discharge fluids at the location of the damage if you bruise a lower frond and pull it down. To keep the flow going, cut another piece every 12 hours.

 

 

During the rainy season, the Baobab tree, which may be found on the sandy plains of northern Australia and Africa, gathers water in its bottle­like trunk. Even after weeks of dry weather, water may be discovered in these trees on occasion.
At the base of the chevron of their leaf stalks (where the leaves link to the trunk), certain banana trees can contain up to 2 quarts (2 L) of water.

 

 

 

Water from a Spring

Remember when you were a youngster at the beach and dug a hole so big that water began seeping in through the cracks in the walls?
In a survival situation, you may utilize this approach to get fresh water. (However, if you’re going to the trouble of digging a hole and have the requisite gear on hand, a solar still is a superior option.)

 

I’ve dug for water in various areas, sometimes to no result, but I was successful while surviving in northern South Africa’s grasslands and wooded regions. I discovered a mud­hole infested with wild boar excrement and urine there.

 

 I excavated a tiny hole on the soft sand a few way downstream of the mud­hole. I had a hole full of water in no time, dirty but devoid of animal waste and bacterial contaminants.



You’ll need to dig a hole that’s deep enough to let the water in.
The speed with which it enters the hole is determined by how deep you dig and the amount of water in the soil. When seepage occurs, absorb the moisture with a cloth before wringing it into your mouth or into a container. 

 

 

Water may be found in valleys and other low­lying locations at the foot of the concave banks of dry riverbeds, at the foot of cliffs or rocky outcroppings in the first depression behind the first sand dune of dry desert lakes, and in the first depression behind the first sand dune of dry desert lakes.