The Much Maligned Solar Still

The solar still has been accused of being myth or misinformation perpetuated first by ignorant survival book writers copying and recopying others work. Then furthered by well-intentioned yet gullible Internet posters passing along this erroneous data. The major misconceptions about the solar still are unrealistic expectations, misuse and misunderstanding of the stills operation.

The earliest and most common teaching of the solar still’s use is in military survival manuals. The error that most books make is they don't tell the whole story. How to use it effectively. By that I mean to get the best production possible. They do not discuss the very real limitations it has. So that people that try it do not have such unrealistic expectations. They give the impression that a still made from a 3 or 4 foot square of plastic will produce all the water that you will need to survive. This is why many have come to the conclusion that it is worthless because it is not a perpetual fountain. All things have their limitations.

The solar still does produces an amount of water. While it may not keep you going forever, it will supply some water and that will keep you going a little longer. This time extension could mean the difference between rescue and death. The still may only make a difference of a couple of hours but wouldn’t you like those extra hours of life. As other options may present themselves?

Under the best conditions found in a desert a still made from a 6 X 6 foot square sheet will produce somewhere between a pint and a quart of water a day. The smaller ones even less. To supply all the water a single person needs requires several such stills and those will need recharging or repositioning periodically.

But a solar still is not a desert only device. More on that later.

Conversely many of the current survival instructors that now profess that a solar still is dangerous to teach or attempt to use are just as much in error. To bolster their case they put out just as much erroneous information. Here is a typical reply on what is wrong with a solar still.

A solar Still in the desert during the summer heat will get you KILLED!

Here's Why:

1) You lose more water in sweat digging the hole than you make from the still!

2) If water is contaminated by Alkaloids, etc. a still won't separate the contaminants!

3) A lot of the soil in the Desert Southwest is high in various elements you wouldn't want to drink! Including alkaloids, cyanide, arsenic, etc! You can't tell by looking either! If you dig into highly contaminated soil, the water collected will be highly contaminated! Good news is if water is heavily contaminated, you won't have to worry about finding more water!

4) Some IDIOT keeps passing around the story about recycling your Urine! Wrong again! Won't filter contaminants!

5) If water is contaminated with Guardia or viruses, solar still won't kill them either - it's the HEAT of boiling that kills them, not the steam (water vapor) so a solar still won't boil water and hold it at boiling temperature for 10 minutes (FEMA advice for boiling water)

Let me try to answer these questions.

1 Building a solar still wastes more water in sweat than it produces.
Well Duh.
But only if you make it so. If you are short on water you ration your sweat. Now I will agree that this is the point that comes, as close to being valid as any of them. Again the still will not work if there is no water available for it to work on. If you site the still where no water is available it is indeed a total waste of sweat and effort. First you have to pick a spot that is very likely to have moisture in the soil, able to add large amounts of vegetation that water can be extracted from or you are able to supply a source of undrinkable water. Second you need to dig your hole smart rather than fast. True if you go out into the middle of hard pan and dig through something that is bone dry and hard as concrete. Then do it at the hottest part of the day like 105 in the shade and no shade. Add in the fact that you are digging as hard and as fast as you can. Under those conditions you are more likely to die anyway from stupidity rather than building the still. As mentioned only dig where you have a good chance of getting water. If it ain’t there you not gonna get any. Digging at random is a waste. Dig when it is the coolest not the hottest. Quite often at night deserts can become quite chilly. You may even need the exercise to help keep you warm. But even if it is warm at night dig slowly expending as little energy as possible to accomplish the task. The idea is to save sweat not work up a good one. Take frequent rest breaks. If you are at the point of building a still you are not planning on going anywhere because stills take time to work. You have plenty of time to dig the hole so is no need to rush. Since you should be digging at night it will not start working until the sun comes up.

2 &3 since they are the same thing. Alkaloids, cyanide, arsenic, etc what you are describing are minerals not liquids. They are dissolved solids in the water. They do not evaporate they stay in the ground. The only type only contamination you have to worry about is volatile liquids mixed with the water. Such as liquid chemical wastes. Solar stills work by evaporating the liquid present. It then condenses on the plastic then runs into your container. Simple physics. Therefore it most definitely separates the contaminates you mentioned. Now if your are sloppy you can recontamnate your drinking water.

4 Urine can be recycled. This is no myth. The still distills it does not filter. The same as stills can desalinate seawater. Again the contaminating products are dissolved solids mostly urithric acid. This is left behind as white crystals. So it is not a myth perpetuated by idiots on the Internet.

5 It is the same thing with the biologicals. Even the smallest virus is a solid object. They do not evaporate. The water that does evaporate rises away from them to re-condense on the plastic. So who cares if you kill them. They are left in the soil or within any remaining contaminated liquid you charged the still with. By the way exposure to solar radiation does kill many bio contaminates. That is if you did not put the contaminated water in the same container you used to catch your drinking water.

If you want to see how this works here is a demonstration in reverse.
First make some ersatz urine or the equivalent of contaminated water. Take some tap water and dissolve as much salt or sugar in it as possible. The salt or sugar represents the contaminant and when finished gives you something easily seen. You could take the pan of water and set it outside in the sun to evaporate or if you want to speed things up you could boil the water on the stove. This is not to show how boiling would kill bio contaminants but to get rid of the water. When all the water is gone you will see a white residue coating the bottom of the pan. This shows how the contaminants are left behind. If you were to collect the steam or water vapor and re-condense it you would find that it is purer than the tap water you started with as most tap water contains some dissolved solids and these would be left in the pan also.

A couple of other points about cross contamination. If you were to dig the hole for a solar still in soil that contains poisonous minerals or used the catch container to transport bio contaminated water to charge a still. Then the container could very easily have enough contamination to re-contaminate the water you just purified. It is also possible that an insignificant amount of cross over may be picked up where the plastic contacts the ground at the edge of the hole.

A solar still can produce some water in the desert if conditions are right. But the use of a still in not limited to desert use. Any place that reaches a reasonable temperature a still can be used. Thee warmer it gets the more effective it will be. It can not only draw water from the soil or vegetation but if you have a source of water that is not safe to drink it can purify it. Boiling can kill biologically contaminated water it does nothing if the water contains dissolved substances that could poison you. But a still can separate the water from the contaminants. The only things it can not remove are contaminants that are also volatile liquids. A prime example of these would be petroleum products. They would evaporate and re-condense exactly the same way that water does.

As it can be seen while the solar still is not the end all be all of water procurement. Yet it is not the myth that some tout it to be. Merely a misunderstood tool. That the naysayers would strip from your arsenal of survival weapons.

My favorite rule is options, always more options. A solar still is just one more skill and option.