Boatman,

What can they hurt?

Fair enough question. The problem is that they produce very little water in relation to the effort necessary to construct them.

Most people who make a solar still make them too small, too shallow, and in less than ideal soil. Even when they are constructed in an ideal location they barely produce enough water to keep one person alive. This has to be balanced against the sweat output required to dig the hole.

The best advice on solar stills I have ever seen and followed was BUILD ONE. If still not satisfied, BUILD ANOTHER. It is an eye opener. The theory is definetely there, in practice it is much harder to make it work.

I now view them as an act of desperation after digging out a seep fails to produce water. If you already have a hole dug in moist soil you might as well do the easy part and make a still out of it. I would never set out to intentionally make a solar still, been there, done that, got thirsty. Mac