More important than food and perhaps even more important than fire, water is necessary for survival. Maybe it is obvious, but our bodies are comprised of a lot of it.You can harvest water in a variety of ways. Unless you live in Michigan (the Great Lakes State) or Minnesota (Land of 10,000 Lakes) or such locales where ponds and lakes are prevalent, free-flowing water may not always be readily available. Standing water can be a bit sketchy, so if you don't have a kit to test or a way to purify, you need to seek it elsewhere.
Plants are some of the easiest to locate and most reliable sources of clean water. Many of them hold droplets of rain on the leaves and others house plenty of moisture in their stems.
Avoid drinking from storm drains, sewers, and puddles with rainbow sheen. Not all that is wet is water, so use your other senses to help determine whether or not it is in fact water.
If a plant is growing in soil that is near urban areas, the ground water may be contaminated. In this case, the more rustic the venue the better your chances are of finding healthier sources. Of course, this works to your advantage - if you are in a survival situation, you are probably pretty far out in the wild anyway.
Use caution when acquiring water from plants in the wild. If you aren't sure whether or not a plant is poisonous or not, don't use it. Remember the unfortunate kid at summer camp that ran through the poison ivy in shorts? Now imagine trying to scratch the back of your throat when it itches!
More often than not, you may be able to trust grapevines, birch tree sap, maple tree sap, and thistles. Some plants look like other plants that you really don't want to use for water collection. Grapevines have a poisonous look-alike, the Canada Moonseed vine, so be careful.
Instead of pressing your luck by squeezing what may or may not be grapevines, press the wood fibers of birch trees in your fist and point your thumb towards your open mouth.
Remember: water can be acquired from a variety of natural sources, but use your better judgment and never assume.
When the chips are down, you need tools you can depend on. Check out the Bushman Survival Knife and other Wilderness survival gear.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gabriel_J._Adams
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