5 Practical Ways to Remain Hydrated During Long-term Survival Situations

‍When you’re in a long-term survival situation, keeping your body hydrated can be challenging. Dehydration is one of the most common health risks that survivors face when they’re cut off from clean water supplies and other resources.

Fortunately, there are many things that you can do to remain hydrated even if you’re in a DIY, long-term survival situation. Water is crucial for just about every process that goes on inside your body, so it’s important to know how to stay hydrated during a long-term survival situation.

Collect and boil rainwater

If there’s a storm during the time when you’re in a long-term survival situation, you can collect the rainwater that falls on your shelter and other equipment.

Collect the water in pots and pans, bottles, or even in your hands. When the water has finished falling, you can then boil it to kill any bacteria. Doing this will allow you to stay hydrated while also preventing any diseases that might be caused by drinking unclean water.

Keep in mind that it’s crucial to protect your water containers from contamination while the rain is falling. If you can find a way to cover your water containers, even with a piece of cloth or a plastic bag, you can prevent leaves, insects, and other debris from falling into your water.

Find natural sources of water

During a long-term survival situation, you’ll want to find as many different natural sources of water as you can. First, look for nearby lakes, ponds, streams, and other bodies of water.

Try to find out if the water is clean by talking to neighbors who may have been living in the area for a long time. If you’re in a low-risk situation, you can also use a water test kit to make sure that the water is clean.

If you find a natural source of water, you can build a simple water filter by putting a piece of cloth in a container. If you’re able to find large leaves, you can use these to create a filter that will strain out any dirt, bugs, and other debris.

Drink your own urine

One thing that you can do to stay hydrated during a long-term survival situation is to drink your own urine. Some people may find the thought of this disgusting, but the fact is that urine is a clean source of water that’s already been filtered through your kidneys.

While you may not want to drink large amounts of urine, you can use it as a last resort to stay hydrated. You can store your urine in a clean container and then filter it before drinking.

You can also strain it to remove any excess salt, minerals, and other chemicals that your body naturally produces. Note that you may have to drink larger amounts of your own urine in order to stay hydrated.

This is because the amount of water that your body can extract from your urine is limited.

You can use the following method to find out how much water you can extract from your urine:

First, collect the urine in a clean container. Pour the urine into a separate container and then mark the amount of urine that you poured out. Next, let the urine sit for a few hours until it stops being liquid. Then, mark the amount of water that was collected.

Strain and purify the water you do have

Even if you’re able to collect large amounts of clean water from natural sources, you’ll want to filter and purify the water before drinking it.

If you don’t have a water filter with you, you can build a DIY water filter out of common household items. To do this, take a piece of cloth, roll it up into a long cylindrical shape, and then place it inside a container or a pitcher.

Pour the water into the container and let it pass through the cloth. Once the water has gone through the cloth, it’ll be clean enough to drink.

Another option is to boil the water in order to kill any bacteria. You can do this by bringing the water to a boil over an open flame or by using a fire. Make sure that the container that you’re boiling the water in is made out of metal or another fireproof material.

Use a solar still to recover more water

If you’re in an area with lots of sun, you can build a solar still in order to recover more water. A solar still is a fairly simple device that’s designed to collect water from the moisture in the air.

All you have to do is take a container, put a small amount of dirt or a wet cloth inside it, and place the container where there’s plenty of sunlight.

After a few hours, the solar still will have gathered enough water to fill the container. Keep in mind that you’ll want to use a clean container for the solar still.

If there’s dirt or debris inside the container, the water won’t be clean enough to drink. You can use a filter or a cloth to clean the container out regularly.

Conclusion

When you’re in a long-term survival situation, staying hydrated can be challenging. Fortunately, there are many ways that you can collect water and even ways to filter and purify the water that you find naturally in the environment.

Remember that water is crucial for just about every process that goes on inside your body. It’s important to know how to remain hydrated even if you’re in a long-term survival situation.