One of the essential items, if you are going to last the long haul after an SHTF situation, is that of safe drinking water. When an SHTF type of event strikes, your first instinct will undoubtedly be to run and seek out safe shelter. Once you have done that, and your adrenaline fades, you will then find that you need to access what you do and do not have to survive.
You can only carry so much on your person, so where will you obtain safe drinking water once your current supply runs out? You may even be lucky as to stumble upon a lake, a stream, or a pond. That would be great, wouldn’t it? Well, no, not really as it turns out.
It is pretty much logical that those who wouldn’t just drink any liquid they found, be it water from a lake or stream water, would be more likely to survive a situation longer than those who would guzzle what they could down. It is worth noting that a severe case of dysentery is not something you will want to deal with when it comes down to what could very quickly become life and death.
You should educate yourself now, on how to determine if the water sources you find are suitable for consumption or not. We will look at a few methods that you can use to test the overall quality of any water you see before choosing to consume it.
Home Water Test Kit
There are many choices out there for testing water, but they all function on the same principle. With the use of a color-changing strip that matches up with an enclosed chart, you can quickly determine if your water source is safe for consumption or not.
Water Source Identification
The source of your water will speak volumes about its overall quality. For this reason, it is vital that if you find yourself in the wild, that knowing the source from which your water flows will determine how safe it is to drink. The best choice, if you can find it, is water that is clear and flowing from an area that does not contain a village or populace. If you find yourself coming across a clear, flowing stream, without anyone or anything around, make sure to fill up all your water bottles.
Castille Soap Test
If you prepared ahead of time and packed a bottle of castille soap into your bug out bag, you will be able to utilize it for more than cleaning. With the soap being 100% natural, making it free of dyes, perfumes, or detergents, it is the perfect item for determining if the water you are testing is safe for consumption. Add a few drops of castille to a bottle one-third full of cold water. Give it a good shake and if it remains milky or cloudy, move on to the next source of water as this one is contaminated.
Use Your Senses
If worst comes to worst, you can rely on the senses that nature gave you to test your water. Check the physical appearance of the water, looking for any showing of cloudiness or sediment. Smell the water, making sure to note any odors or sour smells that will provide a good clue the water is not safe. Finally, only to be done as a last step, taste the water. If the water tastes off or foul, in any manner, do not swallow it and spit it out immediately.
As you can see, when the SHTF, and you find yourself with limited provisions, you can use the suggested methods above to search out and obtain safe drinking water. Once you have located a viable source, make sure to fill up every container you have.
