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Water
You can never carry too much water in the
desert. A good rule is to carry 1 gallon per person per day of DRINKING
water, plus any water needed for dish washing or solar showers; usually
at least another gallon per person. Also, you should carry enough extra
water to carry you through in case you are stranded for any reason, such
as having to wait in a mired 4X4 vehicle for things to dry out.
- Never go more than 500 feet from camp
without carrying water, especially children.
- Familiarize yourself with the locations
of natural water sources both on the trail and at the destination. There
are many types of natural water sources in these deserts: springs, seeps,
water pockets, washes, streams, even rivers. Man-made sources like wells
and wildlife guzzlers are common in many areas. A USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle
map of your area will show most of the water sources. Others can be
found at this website: http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html
. Search by type of feature, such as "spring", etc.
- All water from whatever
source should be filtered or otherwise treated to avoid Giardia and
other painful diseases that may be carried in the water. If you can’t
filter or treat the water, you can drink from a spring without much
concern if you drink it directly from where it leaves the ground. Even
so, you’re still taking a chance. Never drink un-treated water from
an open running stream or river unless it’s an emergency. Most of these
water-borne diseases have an incubation period of up to 2 weeks before
the infected person will notice their symptoms, so any effects would
be felt long after reaching safety.
- Some water sources may
be contaminated by heavy metals like mercury and lead, or by arsenic,
which is even worse and can be deadly. One good way to avoid
such contamination is to drink only from water sources that have mosses,
slimes, lichen or fungi growing in or near the water source. The absence
of such plants may indicate the presence of one or more of these contaminants. If
the water source is shown on your map and has a name, this may also
indicate contamination. An obvious name would be “Arsenic spring”.
Some are not-so-obvious, like “Bitter Creek” or “Red Spring.” Never
drink water that’s coming out of a mine.
- A condition known as Hyponatremia (high-po-nah-tree-me-a)
occurs when one drinks too much water out of fear of dehydration.
This condition can be equally as serious! The excess water causes the
sodium in your blood to be drawn out to the lower intestines. Symptoms
are headache, irritability, weakness and anorexia. The best treatment
for Hyponatremia is to drink liquids with high sodium AND carbohydrate
content, such as Gatorade. The carbs help your body to absorb the sodium
through a process called "co-transportation."
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