Doug's recent post about solar stills got me to thinking about finding water in the desert. I thought about posing this question there but then decided that since his post was really about solar stills and more specifically how they don't work, I figure asking in that thread would be thread hijacking and it seems like a bad idea to hijack the thread of the message board owner. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

With that said... what are the best ways, if any, to find water in the dessert. I have read the joint services survival guide and the SAS guide and basically from them I have basically gotten the idea that if left in the desert and running out of water I might want to start etching my last will and testiment in to the sand. The closest thing to true dessert survival that I am likely to experience would be outtings (where something could have gone wrong) in far West Texas where water is scarce and the ground is usually litterally rock hard. I'm prepared and extremely familiar with the land where I go in West TX (near Del Rio Mexico mostly). So if I were to run out of water (never have so far) I know where the rock water seeps are (the good ones... the ones that are reliable year after year) and if I were in an unfamiliar area or my emergency situation occurred on that one year where my faithfull rock pools had no water... what then? Digging is probably out of the question unless I happen to pack a jackhammer. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Vegitation is mostly Mesquite, Cedar and Prickly Pear Cactus. The best I can think to do is start sucking on the Prickly Pear Cactus and maybe eat some of the yummy fruits (if it's the proper time of year for them). Are there any other reassonable options? In addition and more to the point here... what about some place like Yuma Az where (if I rememeber correctly from my one trip through there) where the is nothing but sand dunes as far as the eye can see. How could one possibly find water there?

Food for thought (no pun intended). I would love to hear anyone's ideas/opinons on this.

No sarcasm intended, but your best option for finding water in the desert is to look for it in the water containers you kept on your person or in your car. Barring an outstanding streak of pure luck, your assessment of "get ready to write your last words" is correct.

In more general terms, I think this line of discussion underscores a valid point: sometimes survival training's best purpose is to deeply convince yourself that you don't want to get into that situation in the first place.

I went through this via my EMS training. Now that I'm certified NREMT-I and have worked on some messed up people, I realize that the bottom line is this: do all you can to avoid serious injury, because outside of a properly-operating hospital, your options are pretty darn limited.

Our friend here Polak187 told me as much long ago, but I had to see it myself to understand.

The world is full of places even the native, indigenous people avoid at all costs. You answered your own question ," I know where the rock water seeps are." There are water sources, Tinajads ( water pools found higher up in the Southwest) Oasis ( 29 Palms California) and many small seeps and residual pools. The trick is to know where they are. This is how indegenous people survive, not by crushing some half dead leaf into a waterbag and producing gallons of bottled water with a lemon slice. They found these through carefull observation; watching the flightway of birds and other animals at morning and evening, observing the rare stormcloud and observing which plants are associated with standing water. Desert people live a very delicately balanced life revolving around very limited resources. Unless you can integrate yourself, as you have in the environment's known seeps, Edward Abbey is worth quoting " Carry lots of water, avoid the noonday sun,pray frequently." <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I think David Alloway's book on desert survival probably covered the water issue very well. He even covers getting a windmill to pump water when it is broken. It also makes me glad to live in the Pacific NW where water availability is rarely the issue. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />