Your priorities in a survival situation...water is not #1.

Shelter is.*

Hypothermia will take you down long before dehydration.

Teacher

*shelter from cold, sun, wind, etc

IMHO - water is way down the list. This is a general list. Don't get wrapped up in arguments about fine details.

3 SECONDS - Major arterial blood loss, gun shot, knife wound, being crushed, a fall, other accidents.

3 MINUTES - Suffocation, drowning, avalanche, heart attack, cave in, gas poisoning, serious blood loss.

3 HOURS - Hypothermia from cold, wind and rain. Heat stroke from sun, desert, exhaustion and drought.

3 DAYS - Die of thirst, some water born diseases, food poisoning, snakes, severe infection, tick paralysis.

3 WEEKS - Starvation, bad water, general infection, strong radiation.

3 MONTHS - Starvation, disease, loss of shelter, general health deterioration, weak radiation.

3 YEAR - Poor diet, vitamin deficiency, lack of exercise, despair, chronic illness

Well, it depends. I realize hypothermia is a problem in a lot of places, but where I live, it hasn't been below freezing during the time I've been here (15 years), and I've never had air conditioning while I've lived here. (It gets hot enough a couple of times a year that I may go to a mall or store with A/C, but it's never been a consideration to get an air conditioner here).

I agree that shelter is a top priority, but I wouldn't rank it over water where I live - I could go a long time without a formal shelter, but I'd definitely need formal water. :->

well dehydration will increase the chance and speed you get hypothermia, so they both mater.

I really don't care what in "theory" is the priority. In real life, it depends on the situation. Since nobody can 100% predict a emergency, you can't predict your priority. It is however gooed to know why certain things are importent (shelter, water, food, first aid, singanlling, etc)

Every situation is different.
Yes there are times when shelter and warmth are the #1 priority but there can be other scenarios where water could be a #1 priority.

I have been "be-nighted" on a long backcountry rock climb that had a big approach. It was the middle of August in Tuolumne Meadows (Yosemite) and nightime temps were balmy.
I had no worry of hypothermia due to my bringing a balaclava and light jacket. But we ran very low on water during the climb and had to ration. During the descent we were totally bonking because of lack of water. I wound up syphoning some water left in a small puddle in a creek using my Camelback hose.
If we had been forced to bivy I would not have required much shelter but we were already in serious need of water. We didn't bivy but it was 18+ hours car to car.

I know some are thinking "why didn't he take more water?"
Well you cannot climb with a lot of weight so you have to limit you gear and supplies. This is one of the cool things about alpine rock climbs; you need survival gear and supplies but you can not take everything you will need without going too heavy; you need to rely on your skills.
Wearing a big pack or hauling it up will slow you down too much.
Fast and light is the rule and that forces you to be a little spartan.


Later that night we stumbled upon the freshest and cleanest spring seep. It ran out of a crack in the hillside ran into a little catch puddle and then disappeared again into the ground.
We laid on our bellies and drank really deep. It was one of the most refreshing drinks of water in my entire life! No I did not treat it and never got sick but that is another subject.

The rule of threes has a lot of flaws; I don't really think it is of real use.

your priorities are going to change from situation to situation, your best bet is be adaptable with your training and ensure what you carry is as adaptable as you are. Don't get stuck in the mind set if TSHTF I have to do this. Stop and gather all the information you can safely otain then make your plans to deal with the situation.

I have to disagree with this. There are many situations where dehydration is a far greater and more pressing problem than hypothermia. The 3 days for water from in the rule of threes is based on minimal activity and a fairly temperate climate. When engaging in vigorous physical activity in a hot, dry, environment, dehydration can easily occur in a few hours.

I agree, the rules of 3 are great... except when they don't apply.

Can you "live" for 3 weeks without food? Sure. Will you be so weak after 10-14 days that you won't have the strength to do anything for yourself in a rough situation, thus expediting your doom? Yes.

Good lord people, its a suggestion of "3"s then.
Obviously if you are lost in the desert you may put Water before shelter. Just as if you were stuck above the tree line in a Blizzard then you would put shelter before water, it's common sence. The senerio is going to dictate what the most important surival factor is!
If an armed intruder comes into my home, I don't need to go get my tent, or my camel back, I need to reach into the night stand and pull out my .357 mag.

That has got to be one of the most sweeping and misleading statements of all time.
DEHYDRATION IS ONE OF THE MAJOR CAUSES OF HYPOTHERMIA!

Your body needs water in order to process it's on board fuel load. That's the food in your stomach & the fat on your body. No water, no fuel. In below freezing conditions you dehydrate as fast as in a high temperature enviroment.

One other point: The Rule of Three's is a guide, not a hard and fast set of priority's that change according to the situation. It's like the Breathing, Bleeding, Burns and Broken Bones taught in basic first aid.
Don't get fixated. It WILL kill you.

The rule of threes in an ok start to help explain the need for water and shelter before food but otherwise it can be misleading because like many have said; each case is different.

If you look at the list on the second post you see that there are some silly things listed.

Priorities are generally set by YOUR situation, not someone else's.

Summer in the desert, water may be your first priority, but you sure could use some shade so you don't accelerate hyperthermia. Night temps in some places can drop from 105F to 50-55F, so you can still die of hypothermia, esp if you're dehydrated. In these conditions, you'll need both water and shelter.

If you've been drinking steadily (the water in your body is more valuable than the water in your bottle) because you planned to be out for only 3-4 hrs on a lovely 75F day, and suddenly realize that you're not where you should be, the situation has changed, and you have to allow for that. Now your water bottle is empty, you're starting to feel thirsty, the sun is getting low, and you're looking at spending a night in a canyon where the temps may drop into the 30s or 40s. Your priority needs to change from water to shelter. You can stand being a bit thirsty while you find or prepare shelter. When you've taken care of that, THEN you can look for water. But since you've been drinking as you walked, your water levels won't be that bad.

The point of determining survival priorities is not to make decisions in a panic, or from kneejerk reactions to the situation you've found yourself in. When conditions change, you have to change with them. Trying to force the old plan to work can get you into far more trouble than if you stop NOW, and just think.

Sue

Rule of 3s.

Air is number one.
Shelter/fire is two.
Water is three.
Food is four.

Teacher I don't know where you live, But I live in So. Calif. WAY South. Down here a shelter may never be needed, but water will always be the Number one requirement. Down Here we worry about Hyperthermia more that any thig else.

I think the rule of 3's is nice because it gives you a structure & something to think thru ahead of time & even more importantly something to think thru in the situation - so you won't panic. Anything that helps you relax & keep your head is a great tool to have. I don't know of anyone that thinks they are set in stone. Just a good guide.

Interesting story - 4 years ago I was using the rule of 3's in teaching our cubscouts (8 yr olds) what to do in a survival situation.

My first question was --> What should you do if you realize you a lost in the woods?

First kid blurted out "walk really fast!"

Second kid immediately followed up with "start looking for food"

Just because it gets dark does not mean you are spendng the night in the wilderness. That is why it is a good idea to carry a headlamp and extra clothes. If it gets dark; you use the headlamp (if you know where you are going) it gets cold and you add layers.

The premise of the “Rule of 3s” is simply to think about things in the order of potential importance. In extreme environments, it usually works out perfectly. In non-extreme environments, you simply get to the shelter step and think “the clothes I’m wearing right now are shelter enough,” and proceed to the next step.

It’s a checklist of things to think about, not a recipe of what to do in what order. Which situation do you think is better?

• You think about shelter, realize it’s not important right now, and proceed to water.
• You think about water, work on obtaining it, and ignore shelter when it’s really needed.

Good points. Here (on the cold plains )its the cold we worry about -- though in the Summer it frequenlty hits 90.

TRO

There are many good points made here. Certainly, one's immediate circumstances will dictate one's course of action. The rules of three are more appropriately applied after applying the S.T.O.P. Immediate Action Survival Plan.