Drinking seawater

[Rick]

I don't take any form of additional salt. I think there is more than enough in packaged foods to take care of us several times over. I've spent a lot of time out in the sun working in some pretty hot weather and as long as I kept water handy I never had a problem.

[crashdive123]

Some people will take salt tablets when they are doing a lot of physical activity in higher temps. For some it may help prevent cramping. If you use any kind of sports drink (gatorade, powerade) they contain salt as well as other essential minerals and electrolytes to help the body reover. For most people there is enough salt naturally occuring in their diets that they shouldn't need salt suplements. Remember that if you are just exercising in hot weather, and not stranded at sea in a raft, obtaining water is probably not a primary concern as we started talking about in this thread.

[trax]

For a brief stint, in my youth, I worked in a copper smelter, two 10,000 ton furnaces, average temperature when working within 15 feet of the furnaces 125 F. I used salt tablets but very sparingly, some guys that had been there for quite some time popped them like candy. I'm pretty sure that extended use over a long period was doing things to mess up their physiology.

[lewisw]

I was trying to think of what you would mix with seawater to make a rehydration drink, if that's what's needed. In the absence of a packet of sugar on an open boat, I worked out that the ingredients (salt, natural sugar) in rehydration salts look very like those in any soft drink (orangeade, coke,pepsi, lucosade etc etc, maybe even beer!). Any comments?

[crashdive123]

Not sure why you continue to ask about making a drink with seawater (unless you're working on marketing some sort of product). Most people that have responded to your question about drinking seawater have responded with a "don't do it" kind of answer. Is there some more background that you could provide that may help us help you?

[Rick]

Not anywhere near the same percentage of salt. The ocean is about 3.5%, or 35 parts per thousand.

[trax]

....Any comments?

yeah, give it up.

[Pict]

Lewis,

Oral Rehydration Solution. This should be at body temperature not cold.

1 liter of clean water
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp sodium bicarbonate (if you don´t have this double the salt to 1/2 tsp)
2 Tbs sugar or honey

This information was taken from the book "Where There is No Doctor" and applies to humans who are dehydrated from whatever means, sweat or running out the end. I have used this mix for people suffering from dehydration caused by heat as well as illness.

The small amount of salt and larger amount of sugar speed up the rehydration process. When you sweat you lose electrolytes and they need to be put back in. The amount of salt lost is small, 1/4 to 1/2 TEASPOON per LITER of water, about 1.5 to 3 grams of salt.

The amount of salt in a liter of seawater is about 35 grams or 7.4 teaspoons of salt, enough to make about 17 liters at 1/2 tsp, or 23 liters at 1/4, of oral rehydration drink when mixed with fresh water.

To use some seawater as the salt portion of one liter of rehydration mix you would only need about 40 ml or seawater mixed with 960 ml of fresh water and 2 tablespoons of sugar. If you were to use straight seawater you are mixing it with about 23x the amount of salt recommended. The principle ingredient you will need for mixing it is about a 9.5 to 1 ratio of fresh water to salt water. Mac

[Rick]

Either that or the amount of water you're going to drink is huge. By the way, don't do that before going to bed.

[trax]

Either that or the amount of water you're going to drink is huge. By the way, don't do that before going to bed.

Or you could be like the old Indian who drowned in his own teepee.

[Gray Wolf]

yeah, give it up.

trax, don't hold back, tell him how you really feel...