Water is one of the main things we as humans need to survive.
In our homes and in cities, water is abundant.
Most of us can just turn on the sink and have somewhat drinkable water.
Those who need it have the means to filter it readily available if necessary.
And if, for some reason, you don’t have running water in your home, a quick trip to the store will provide you with bottled water options.
But, what if you’re lost in the wilderness?
Sometimes water sources aren’t immediately available, and panic starts to set in.
Fear not.
We’ve created this guide to show you exactly what to look for to find a water source in the wilderness.
And if you can’t find a water source, we’ve also included ways to ‘capture’ water from your surroundings.
Utilizing the tips below will help you find water as quickly as possible and will also make sure drinking your own urine never crosses your mind!
A Quick Note: Always Filter Water In The Wilderness
If the water you’re about to drink didn’t come from a bottle or wasn’t already previously filtered, filter it!
Although that water looks clean and doesn’t seem to have anything wrong with it after just a sip, you never know what kind of bacteria might be gathering in it.
There are many ways to filter water, including DIY filters you can create in the wilderness.
It’s better to be safe than sorry!
Before You Do Anything: Stop And Listen
If I were thrown into the wilderness with no idea where I was, let alone where water was, I would first stop and listen to my surroundings.
There is a chance that you’ll be able to hear water nearby, whether it’s a small babbling creek or even a waterfall.
Take a second to hear your surroundings just in case.
It could make a huge difference if you could hear a water source near you, but stomping around on twigs and dead leaves could cause you to miss it.
Methods For Finding Water
The methods below are used for tracking down existing sources of water such as rivers, lakes, and streams.
Use your surroundings alongside these tips to find the sources.
Follow The Animals
It’s no secret that humans aren’t the only living things that need water to survive.
Animals all around you will also be in search of water.
The good news?
They’re better equipped to find water than you are.
So a great place to start is to search your immediate surroundings for animal tracks.
These could be obvious prints in the sand or dirt, trails created through brush, traces of hair or fur left behind, or even animal dung.
Once you’ve found the tracks, follow them.
And if you aren’t having any luck with animals on the ground, turn your eyes to the sky.
Birds are also in search of water and will have the most direct path to the source since they won’t be obstructed by any obstacles up high.
Find a flock of birds and head in that direction for a likely lead toward water.
One final thing to look for is insect swarms.
Although they can be very annoying, chances are if you see a swarm that there will be water nearby.
Heading Downhill Is Your Best Bet
Gravity is a wonderful thing.
It’s what keeps us from floating away into space.
And it’s also what gives us a great indicator of where water will be.
If you can’t find any animal tracks leading you to water, your next best bet is to follow gravity.
That is, head downhill!
Water travels downhill because of gravity, so it is highly likely that by going downhill you will find a source of water.
Rely On The Vegetation
Vegetation can be used not only for finding water itself but it also shows signs of water nearby.
Vegetation growing in the desert or alongside a dry stream is a great indicator that water may be found only a few inches under the surface.
When looking at vegetation, look for dark green growth.
The darker the growth, the better your chances are of finding water nearby.
Once you’ve found dark green growth, search around the immediate area for signs of a larger water source.
If none can be found, digging a small hole near the vegetation may provide you with the water you need (more on digging wells and seeps later in the article).
While you are searching for water, you may also come across fruit trees.
Fruit is a great source of hydration when no water source is available.
Be careful though.
Unless you are absolutely sure of the fruit you are about to eat, it is best to stay away.
Some fruits are poisonous and will cause much more pain than it will to help you stay hydrated.
Finding Water In Rocks & Trees
Believe it or not, rocks can provide you with the precious water that you need to survive.
If you come across large rock structures, look for signs of vegetation as this will likely mean that water is near.
Another good tell-tale sign of water in rocks is if there are bird droppings on the rocks.
That means that our feathered friends have likely already found the water source hidden in the rocks, but it is likely you’ll be able to find some too.
To harvest water from rocks, use a piece of clothing or other material that can soak up water.
Simply place the material inside of a crevice in the rock structure.
The material should soak up any water inside which you can then wring out and repeat.
This works especially well after a rainshower.
Trees are also a place to look for harvesting small amounts of water.
Trees create shaded areas around them, but also shade their branches which can be a great place to look after a morning dew or rainshower.
To harvest water from a tree, use the same method as harvesting from rocks, but this time place the cloth in the ‘forks’ of a tree; where it’s branches connect with each other or with the trunk of the tree.
If your cloth material gets full, simply wring it out and repeat.
Situational: Travel Parallel To The Mountainside
If you are in a situation where you are by a mountain, travel parallel to the mountain.
The idea behind this is that you will eventually run into a stream flowing down from the mountain.
In some situations you may be close to a nearby lake or river that stems from the mountainside.
This is also a good time to be on the lookout for dark green vegetation as mentioned above.
While it may not look as promising as a stream, if you can find some water slightly underground near dense vegetation that may be enough to keep you going until you find the bigger source.
Situational: Look For Old Ice & Melt All Ice Before Ingesting
If you find yourself in a situation where the only source of water comes from icebergs, your best bet is to look for ‘old ice’.
Old ice is a bluish, crystal-like color, as compared to salty ice, which is more grey and opaque.
So what’s the difference?
Old ice has been melted and refrozen over and over, and through that process has had most of its salt content removed.
That means that it is safe to drink.
To harvest old ice, simply chip some off with your knife or similar.
If you’re in the same situation but on a boat or raft surrounded by nothing but water, capture some salt water inside of a container and let it freeze.
Saltwater has a lower freezing point than freshwater, which means that the water in the container will freeze at different points as it is separated.
While this is occurring, pull out the ice created and toss out any slush that is left behind (the unfrozen saltwater).
You’ll then have pieces of freshwater ice ready to be thawed.
Speaking of thawing ice, be sure to always thaw your ice before ingesting.
Eating ice itself will lower your body temperature, which will speed up your body’s metabolism.
This in turn will cause your body to work harder, leading to faster dehydration.
Always melt ice before ingesting to ensure proper hydration.
Methods For ‘Capturing’ Water
If water cannot be found, there are methods for capturing water that can be used.
Use these methods to find water underground, catch rainwater, harvest water from vegetation, and more.
Collect Rainwater & Dew
Rainwater is probably the purest source of pre-filtered water out in the wilderness.
It has gone through it’s own filtration process through evaporation, etc.
Collecting rainwater is as simple as laying out some containers in spots where rain will pour.
Since you don’t know when the next rain will come, it is best to fill as many containers as possible.
Depending on what you have, you can also funnel rainwater into your containers using a tarp or similar material.
To use a tarp for rainwater collection, tie it up into a tree, with two adjacent sides higher than the other two.
This will create a ramp.
To further focus the rainwater, place a rock in the middle of the lower end of the tarp.
This will encourage the rainwater to funnel down past the rock, creating a small stream that you can place a container under.
Another great way to collect drinking water is with morning dew.
Just be sure not to collect dew off of any poisonous plants!
To start collecting, tie material that can absorb water (cloth, a cotton shirt, etc.) to your ankles.
Then start walking!
You’ll want to do this early in the morning, before the dew evaporates off of the grass.
Once your material gets full, wring it out into a container and then reattach to your ankles.
If done early enough in the morning and with enough dew, you could collect up to one liter of water per hour.
Dig A Well Or Seep
Remember earlier when I mentioned you should be looking for large amounts of dark green vegetation?
Well now let’s look at what to do once we find them.
A seep and a well are fairly similar, and since you’re not here for an English lesson, I’ll use well.
Digging a well near this vegetation is a great start for finding water underground.
You can also find water in damp looking dirt where no vegetation is found.
Either way, once you’ve picked your spot dig a hole that is about 2 foot wide and 1 foot deep.
If you don’t have water in your ‘well’ yet but the dirt is getting more moist, dig a little further.
Once you’ve reached water, go ahead and collect it.
This water will be fairly good enough to drink with no filtering (the dirt and rocks beneath the surface act as a filter).
If there is sediment in the water you collect, you can filter it out using a cloth or t-shirt.
If you are going to continue using the same well over a period of time, chances are that animals could’ve drank from it, making it unclean.
To clean it out, scoop out all of the standing water and allow the hole to refill with water.
Alternatively, you can use other filtering methods to make the water clean again.
Belowground Still
If you dig underground and just aren’t finding any water, you can create a belowground still.
Essentially what this does is heats up the soil in the immediate area, creating condensation that then gets captured inside of a container (see picture).
This only works well if you have plastic material to place over the hole (preferably clear plastic).
If you have plastic material to work with, follow the instructions below!
To create a still, first dig a roughly 3 foot wide by 2 foot deep hole in an area that gets a lot of sunlight.
Dig a small hole in the middle of the larger hole to place your water-collection container in.
Cover the hole with the plastic material, securing all sides with either rocks or dirt.
Place a rock in the center of the plastic material.
This will force the condensation to drip into the container you’ve placed.
In good conditions and when set up correctly you can expect to yield roughly .5 to 1 liter of water per day.
Since that is not enough to survive, you’ll need to have either multiple stills or other means of collecting water as well.
Transpiration Bag
A transpiration bag works similar to an underground still.
Instead of collecting moisture from soil however, it collects from shrubs or trees.
You will need a plastic bag or plastic material to make into a bag for this to work.
Simply place a rock inside of your plastic bag and then tie the bag around a branch of the tree.
Make sure the rock is dangling at the bottom of the bag so that it creates a place for your water to collect.
The idea behind this is to take advantage of vegetations natural tendency to carry moisture from its roots to its leaves.
When the moisture travels up to the leaves, it evaporates into the atmosphere.
Rather than allowing it to escape, you capture the moisture inside of your plastic bag.
This is best done in the morning so that moisture can collect all day, and make sure to never do this on a poisonous shrub or tree!
How To Make Saltwater Safe To Drink
If you’re in an area where there is only saltwater to drink, fear not!
There is a way to make saltwater safe to drink that is easily accessible.
Simply start a fire and collect some saltwater.
Heat up some rocks on the fire, then drop them into the container to make the saltwater boil.
Place a cloth or other absorbent material over the container.
The saltwater will boil, creating water vapor.
As it tries to escape it will collect in the cloth material, which you can then wring out and repeat until you have enough water to drink.
If you do not have a container, dig a pit that can hold a few gallons of seawater.
Then repeat the process above, dropping hot rocks into the pit creating boiling water.
Situational: Melt Snow
If you are in a snowy region, collecting and melting snow can make for an abundant source of water.
Similar to ice, it’s recommended that you don’t eat snow before melting as it will lower your body temperature, causing your body to increase its metabolism and burn through water faster.
Instead, allow the snow to thaw (a fire can help) before consuming for best results.
Since there is a possibility of snow containing bacteria, it is best to melt it into water then boil it before drinking.
Things You Should Never Drink When Searching
While searching for water, you may find that it is much more difficult than you first thought.
This article and its topic takes ‘it’s easier said than done’ to a whole new level.
Even when you are in dire need of water, there are things you may think will help by drinking that could put you in even more danger.
You’ll want to make sure you stay away from them and continue your search for fresh water.
They are:
- Blood: blood has high salt content and could transmit diseases.
- Saltwater: the salt in saltwater is a high enough content to cause your body to actually lose more water than it gains when drinking it. Stay away from saltwater at all costs.
- Alcohol: alcohol doesn’t actual replenish any water in your body. It also clouds your judgement, making it harder to think clearly and get out of the situation.
- Fresh sea ice: sea ice that has just frozen is made mostly of saltwater, which has too high of salt content to be beneficial.
- Urine: unless you have exhausted all other resources, do not drink your own urine. It contains about 95% water, but that other 5% is waste that can lead to kidney failure (source). It should not be consumed for extended periods of time.
Stay Safe On Your Adventures
We hope you are never in a situation where you are stuck finding water.
Water is a basic necessity, and having it with you at all times is a comfort that we wouldn’t want to give up!
Are there are tips we missed that should be included in this article?
Let us know!