Knowing how to distill your own water is a vital survival tactic as your survival time without water is limited.

 

Evaporation Distillation Method 1

This is a simple method but won’t net much fresh water at a time. If you’re on the run or just need enough for a couple of people, it will work, though. You’ll need a metal cup heavy enough not to float or heat-resistant glass, a pot with a domed lid and heat.

Place the cup in the pot.
Add salt water to the pot, making sure that it doesn’t get in the cup. Don’t fill it so high that you run the risk of the water boiling into the cup.
Turn the lid upside down and place it on the pot. Make sure that your cup is underneath the lowest point of the lid and that the lid seals well. Otherwise, you’ll lose most of your steam before it drips into the cup as fresh water.
Turn the heat up under the pot so that the water boils gently. You don’t want it to boil so hard that it splashes salt water into the glass or upsets the glass.
As the water boils, it will turn to steam, which will rise to the lid and run down the lid into the cup, leaving salt and other impurities in the bottom of the pan.
As a side note, you can do this with a pressure cooker too, and it will require less heat. Just be sure that you don’t boil it dry and crack the cup or the pot.

Evaporation Distillation Method 2

Make a hole in the piece of rubber or cork just big enough for the tubing to fit in.
Fill the bottle with water, leaving some space at the top.
Place the tube through the cork or seal so that it is even with the bottom of the cork, then put the cork in the top of the bottle.
Run the tubing to another container that is lower than the bottle so that the water can run out of it and not back into the bottle.
Put the bottle over your heat source, being careful not to get the tubing hot.
Bring the water to a boil and watch as the steam comes out of the water, through the tubing and converts back to water as it drips out of the end of the tube into your container.

Evaporation Distillation Method 3

Fill your camp pot about half way with salt water.
Form a cone with your aluminum foil so that the tubing is wrapped around the top of the cone and the bottom is used to seal the pot.
Place the pot over heat and run the tubing to a catch basin or bottle.
As the water comes to a simmer, it will start to evaporate and the steam will come up through the tube, dripping fresh water out the other end.

As previously stated, water desalination can be difficult if you lack the necessary materials to do it. This is why it’s so important to prepare for each potential survival situation as it comes up. You wouldn’t pack snowshoes in a desert survival situation, so why wouldn’t you bring supplies for desalination if you know the only water you’ll likely have access to will be salty?

For more helpful tips on distilling undrinkable water into pure drinking water, check out Prepper Ways.