Sea ice....Good for drinking water?

**hunter63** · 12-10-2011, 02:06 PM

Maybe not real usefull to a lot of people, but I found it intresting....and am filing it to my "Hey, I did not know that."

Was watching Flying Alaska last nite, whale hunt was on the show........
Winter camps were out on the ice, and made mention of ocean ice being used for drinking water.
I had never heard of this...as i had always assumed it would be salty.

So in looking it up, found this:
Quote>
Can you drink melted sea ice?

New ice is usually very salty because it contains concentrated droplets called brine that are trapped in pockets between the ice crystals, and so it would not make good drinking water. As ice ages, the brine eventually drains through the ice, and by the time it becomes multi year ice, nearly all of the brine is gone. Most multi year ice is fresh enough that someone could drink its melted water. In fact, multi year ice often supplies the fresh water needed for polar expeditions. See Salinity and Brine in the Characteristics section for more information. <qoute

http://nsidc.org/seaice/intro.html

So it seems that iceburgs and any river ice as well as multi-year ice can be used as drinking water.
Seems the salt gets 'squeesed out" in older ice, making it potable.

**SARKY** · 12-10-2011, 03:10 PM

What we were taught in the Navy, If the ice is blueish in color, you can use it as fresh potable water.

**COWBOYSURVIVAL** · 12-10-2011, 03:13 PM

Good to know...may never need it down south but good to know. Thanks Hunter.

**ClayPick** · 12-10-2011, 04:39 PM

Iceberg Vodka

http://www.iceberg.ca/

**1stimestar** · 12-10-2011, 04:46 PM

What I know some of them do is to chop a big block of ice and stand it upright. As it stands, it clears up. Then it can be used for drinking. I know that it is a bit "flat" but that is ok for a while.

**hunter63** · 12-10-2011, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by 1stimestar

What I know some of them do is to chop a big block of ice and stand it upright. As it stands, it clears up. Then it can be used for drinking. I know that it is a bit "flat" but that is ok for a while.

Now that is a detail that wasn't brought up.....Thanks for the input.

**SARKY** · 12-10-2011, 05:17 PM

Flat water is an easy fix, put it in a container with some air in the container and shake it up. essentially aerating the water.

**TJ Lucky** · 12-10-2011, 06:22 PM

That was an interesting episode as drinking salt water can/will make you very sick and thirsty for even more water. Neat idea to cure the flat water issue.

**Rick** · 12-10-2011, 07:47 PM

Icebergs can be used as well since it's glacier ice that has calved from the glacier. I didn't know that about sea ice, however. Thanks, one more for the cerebral hard drive.