Water desalination or purification

[1stimestar]

Probably had a solution hole in the middle of that hammock. Often tree islands form in the glades around solution holes.

Batch, can you explain what this is? I'm unfamiliar with these terms, other then the type of hammock you lay in.

[hunter63]

These terms are new to me as well......so here ya go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everglades

I learned something today.

[crashdive123]

This may help as well.

Hammock is a term used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them. The term hammock is also applied to stands of hardwood trees growing on slopes between wetlands and drier uplands supporting a mixed or coniferous forest. Types of hammocks found in the United States include tropical hardwood hammocks, temperate hardwood hammocks, and maritime or coastal hammocks. Hammocks are also often classified as hydric (wet soil), mesic (moist soil) or xeric (dry soil). The types are not exclusive, but often grade into each other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammock_(ecology)

[1stimestar]

Aw ok, thanks.

[Batch]

We run the Glades and can tell by the vegitatian what we are running into. A willow head that is small is all coastal plains willow. Bigger it is gonna have giant leather fern.

Then you start bay heads with certain trees/plants and you get a good idea of what you are looking at across the glades and the cypress. We can see the lay of the land by knowing the tree even though the elevation only varies by 5'.

In the Glades you have glades, bay heads, hammocks and what not. Solution holes are the water source.

[Batch]

A solution hole is a hole in the limestone bedrock where water from the underground aquifer comes to the surface. The water is a cleaner source of drinking water. The conditions that are a result of the freshwater spring also support the development of tree islands that we call heads.

[GreatUsername]

In response to the OP, solar desalination is VERY slow... if you do it, you'll need a lot of solar stills, or one very big one. A better bet is to try filtering and boiling (I've done that without issue), and to try to find a spring. Of course, if these fail, you can also extend your chances by a couple days by eating the right food (or by abstaining from the wrong food).

Whatever you do though... don't pull a Bear Grylls!!!

[ubercrow]

All the experiments on solar desalination I have heard of came to the conclusion of it takes more energy to do then it is worth.

I have heard of people doing it on very long ocean sailing trips but the amounts they got were very pathetic and would not sustain a human.