Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hi, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren volc Obam, and I've got a classic brain
Speaker 1: stuff episode for you today. Our erstwhile host, Christian Sagar,
Speaker 1: has a practical one for you. Three ways that you
Speaker 1: can find water in the wild. Hey, brain Stuff, it's
Speaker 1: Christian Sagar here. Lots of situations can leave you stranded
Speaker 1: in the wild without supplies. You could have camping miscommunications,
Speaker 1: unexpected side quests, or I don't know, alien abductions with
Speaker 1: imprecise return drops. You know, all that stuff. Whatever the
Speaker 1: reason you find yourself out there, you're gonna need to
Speaker 1: find water and a minimum of two quarts per day
Speaker 1: to maintain good health. That is, to keep your blood circulating,
Speaker 1: which you know you want to do. And that brings
Speaker 1: us to today's question, how do you find water in
Speaker 1: the wild. Well, I'm gonna walk through three methods. There's
Speaker 1: well digging, solar still making, and transpiration collection. But first
Speaker 1: I should mention that this information is for your education
Speaker 1: only use it at your own risk. Legally speaking, I
Speaker 1: can't recommend that you do anything I say. So, all right,
Speaker 1: we got past that. Let's assume that you can't find
Speaker 1: any large sources of fresh water. There's not a rain
Speaker 1: cloud in the sky and no streams, rivers, or lakes nearby.
Speaker 1: That is, you've looked for animal tracks, lush green vegetation,
Speaker 1: and swarming insects to no avail. You can't find any water,
Speaker 1: you can't hear it, and you've checked out the local
Speaker 1: valleys and other low lying areas. But you can dig
Speaker 1: a well. Look for mud or damp soil in a
Speaker 1: dry river bed. There may be groundwater near the surface,
Speaker 1: so dig a hole about a foot wide and a
Speaker 1: foot deep. If there's water, you're well will start filling up.
Speaker 1: Even in the desert, you can try digging at the
Speaker 1: low point between dunes near vegetation. Put rocks in the
Speaker 1: bottom of your well to keep sediment from stirring up
Speaker 1: into the water, and line the sides with wood to
Speaker 1: prevent the walls from caving in. You should never drink
Speaker 1: salt water, but you can dig a fresh water well
Speaker 1: near saltwater. Starting at the shoreline, walk about a hundred
Speaker 1: feet back from the water and dig a hole three
Speaker 1: to five feet deep. If the water that collects there
Speaker 1: is still salty back away even further. Well water needs
Speaker 1: to be purified before you drink it, give it a
Speaker 1: boil for ten minutes. Even water that looks clean can
Speaker 1: harbor nasty microbes that will make you sicker than a dog.
Speaker 1: But if your wells turn up dry, you can create
Speaker 1: structures to collect water from thin air. This is a
Speaker 1: solar still. You'll need some plastic sheeting, a container to
Speaker 1: collect the water, and one rock. Having a length of
Speaker 1: tubing or some definitely non poisonous vegetation would you know
Speaker 1: also be a bonus. Choose a damp bit of ground
Speaker 1: that gets sunlight for most of the day. Dig a
Speaker 1: bowl shaped whole about three ft across us and two
Speaker 1: feet deep in the bottom. Dig out enough space to
Speaker 1: place your container. If you have a tube, place one
Speaker 1: end at the bottom of the container and secure the
Speaker 1: other end on the surface outside the hole. If you
Speaker 1: have some leaves or other greenery that you know for
Speaker 1: sure are not toxic, tear them up and add them
Speaker 1: to the walls of the bowl. Place the plastic loosely
Speaker 1: over the hole and hold down the edges with rocks.
Speaker 1: Put your rock in the center of the sheet so
Speaker 1: that it SAgs in a little more than a foot
Speaker 1: directly over the container. Add more rocks and soil to
Speaker 1: the edges of the sheet to give it stability. The
Speaker 1: heat of the sun will evaporate moisture in the ground,
Speaker 1: producing condensation on the plastic. It'll drip and collect in
Speaker 1: your container, and you can either sip it directly through
Speaker 1: your tube or retrieve the container at sunset. But if
Speaker 1: your energy is low, you'll want to avoid all that digging.
Speaker 1: Then that's when the transpiration technique comes in and it
Speaker 1: yields less water. But all it requires is tying a
Speaker 1: knot in a plastic bag. Find a you know, definitely
Speaker 1: non poisonous leafy tree again or a shrub that will
Speaker 1: be in the sun for most of the day, and
Speaker 1: you tie the bag around one of its branches. Over
Speaker 1: the course of the day, this plant will exhale or
Speaker 1: transpire water vapor that will collect at the bottom of
Speaker 1: the bag. Untie it or poke a hole in it
Speaker 1: to collect the water, then tie it off again and
Speaker 1: reuse the bag. Plants transpire a lot. About ten per
Speaker 1: cent of the moisture in our air comes from transpiration.
Speaker 1: So there you have it, three different ways to get
Speaker 1: water in the wild. Today's episode was produced by Tyler
Speaker 1: Clang and written by me for Brainstuffs YouTube series. If
Speaker 1: you miss Christian and want to hear more from him,
Speaker 1: tune into his new pop culture podcast, super Context. And
Speaker 1: if you like our show and also like not being naked,
Speaker 1: check out our merch store at t public dot com.
Speaker 1: Slash brain stuff. For more on this and lots of
Speaker 1: other survival topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works
Speaker 1: dot com