Make a solar still to survive

If you are lost in the wild, with no water, this is an easy way to get water from the ground.

Step 1: Find a location

Find a flat location larger than the still, which will be about 2 feet by 2 feet.

Comments

[da_fisher]

wow! you have alot of snow! that means its like december and all the water in the air is frozen, so you may not get as much water... try it near a lake or near an ocean of some kind like an island. i can garentee you will get more water- its especialy needed here though- almost a year of drought..... and burn ban.... and im a pyro

[sking16]

When making these stills make sure that you line up the sag in the top with your container, so the water drips into it. I find it works best if you bury the container almost level with the bottom of the pit. Make sure your pit is slightly V' shaped. I have had reasonable results with solar blankets, and army ponchos, as long as its air tight and smooth surface.

[javandyck]

Thank you! I see the whole thing now. The water condenses on the film/cover and then drips into the container. Clicks in my head.

[javandyck]

I see that you put a sealed jar into the bottom of the hole on top of the grass. How does the water get into it?

[georion]

safety issue-- no water was harmed in the making of this instrutabile!!!! OK?

[dimmaz88]

Great stuff, I like to learn these kind of tricks. You just never know..

Wouldn't it work better with a black piece of plastic?

[jrh065]

Clear plastic lets the sun through to heat the ground and evaporate the water. Hot mud and cool plastic is the goal.

[Sunnedaez]

This is a great thing that the military teaches soldiers to do when their in a place where water is not available for filling their canteens. This works and produces some very clean drinking water as long as the plastic is clean. So if you have to do this be sure the plastic material you use is as clean as possible.

[Peytonomore]

nice.

[desperado dave]

Advantage of using clear plastic vs. black is that you can see how much water you've collected without disturbing still...AWESOME JOB!

[blacksmithsurvial]

or creann wrap

[alancasey]

You can charge the still with undrinkable water (Sea water or even pee) and drink the collected water safetly

[ilpug]

In general, clear plastic works better. You have a lot of wrinkles in your plastic, so that would decrease your efficiency.

[zazenergy]

wow, never knew this! that's really cool.

[tjesse]

Love it! This is a classic survival skill. Anything that you can "set and forget" is important for saving energy for other things.

[arkangel1975]

Great descriptions!

one thing that might make it work a bit better, use the most transparent piece of tarp you can find but not one with a weave pattern. Use like an plastic paint sheet or trash bag, these seemed to work the best as I remember from my boy scout days.