<sigh> I've gotten a few emails of late asking about solar stills because apparently there have been some more stupid articles written suggesting them as a desert survival tool. THEY DON'T WORK!

This past weekend I was out on a desert survival skills exercise with some associates and Tony Nester (excellent instructor, BTW - www.apathways.com ). Since these associates had never done any desert survival, we did the obligatory solar still demo/object lesson. I'd consider the circumstances just about ideal, just short of being able to dig and hit water. It had rained recently and we found an area in a wash at the bottom of what would be falls if the water was running with still damp sand. Dug the hole (105 degrees in the shade, not recommended!, for demo purposes only), added some new growth tamarisk greenery and about half a dozen chopped up swollen prickly pear pads, covered it with the clear plastic and let it sit for 24 hours. Total collected was about a quarter to a third of a pint (see image below). If a solar still will work and produce enough water to offset the energy and sweat to produce it, likely there's fresh water to be found and it's not necessary.