I believe the ‘fear mongers’ have used the same tactics to cause us to fear home canned, fermented, and cultured foods. 🤨 This has given me the courage to speak up about ‘you won’t die if the date on the carton goes past a week’ 😂 My mom always said ‘it’s good 5 days past the date’ for refrigerated foods’. And canned goods were good for a couple years. And ‘V’s are unavoidably unsafe’ Thanks for sharing... 💖
I drank crystal clear water from a fast moving stream at 6,000 ft. Trinity Alps Ca. 3 days later had to go to ER. I had Giardia, never been so sick. My wife drank same water but boiled, she didn't get sick Crystal clear does not mean it's ok. I always boil now, learned the hard way man.
I have been rowing in a river (Guapore) at the boder between Bolivia and Brazil , with a friend , and we drunk water straight from the river witout any filter at all !! Even with all the cattle around , and never had health trouble at all , neither during our trip of one month , nor after !! May be it was pure luck !! Lol lol !!!
@@bernardmichel8521it's definitely a gamble and any source of water could be vastly different. Even if it looks clean and clear there could be plenty of things we wont notice until it's to late 😂
Hi Clay, I am considered a water purification expert. I work with everything from drinking water to Ultra-Pure Semiconductor water and WFI for Pharmaceuticals. I am also an outdoor enthusiast. I found your video to be excellent for the straightforward, low-tech treatment of fair water sources. You did not make any unreasonable claims. You have a great deal of common sense and some scientific understanding. YOu are a bold man to drink the first batch from the well. When I hiked the AT, I drank water out of beaver dams from Georgia to Maine, and never got sick once. I DO NOT recommend that for others by the way. I trusted the high elevation of the beaver dams and a clean stomach (not much food) to be a natural barrier to a lot of perils. I also only filled my canteen from spring water if available. I have never used water treatment devices with me when I hike. I am more trusting than most when it comes to water quality. The real test would be to do some detailed microbiological assays, but that is a lot of work. Pathogens have a very hard time competing with the natural microbiome in the coyote well and in your healthy gut. That said, I would be scared to death to drink third-world water from almost any source due to ubiquitous human contamination. Think cholera. Thanks for the great video. I look forward to checking out your other stuff on line. Keep em coming Sir. And be careful.
THAT is an interesting thought. Drinking the water on a sober stomach...Maybe you can try some microbiological observations on viles collected from various water sources (different conditions etc). I'm not talking directly bacterial level, but at least light microscopic (unicellular organisms and the likes). It boils down to the same thing every time i think (pun intended)...get the large contamination out with filtration...boil the product.
@@paulh3935 I can't remember the exact details but I have read that during the exploration days of Florida/ Georgia, the crew of ocean crossing ships would replenish their water supply from inland swamps full of "blackwater", which is "black" because of so many tannins in it. Specifically, the Okeefenokke Swamp and it's water sheds like up river St. Mary's River and the Suwannee River. I can't remember the exact details but I seem to remember that this water was safer to drink than other water sources at the time and stored much longer without going putrid specifically because of the tannins in it. You are probably correct.
As someone who got sick from drinking tap water I agree with you on the fact that tap water isn't always safe even if you run it through a filter. Our tap water in Houston got a fishy smell but the filter took that out and the water was still unsafe to drink. Absolutely no warnings went out from whatever body should issue such a warning. It was very hard to understand why I was getting sick until I smelled the water in my shower and realized it was bad. The local news did report on the issue eventually but I really feel for all the moms out there using tap water for their babies and having no idea why they were getting sick. At least I was able to figure it out.
Why u think they come up w the pneumonia vaccine = they know the tap water is bad & still let it flow like Flint, Michigan & Camp Lejuene, NC just to name a couple….and bt the toxins in baby formula & the high glucose content (being linked to SIDS, diabetes, obesity, just to name a few) the govts take the path of least resistance & the cheapest route of treatment (hence, kidney issues are epidemic)
I'm from the UK and lived down south in Cornwall for a while, I didn't know until a couple of days later that a crack developed in the water pipe to the house's, but I did when I turned the tap on and a centipede dropped into the glass ! I'm glad I used a clear glass cup or might of taken a gulp of it. 🤮 Distill it all now.
This method kept me alive when I was homeless for about a year. It's just a shallow well, doing the same thing as drilling for water just ALOT cheaper lol.
As an engineer who worked in water treatment I can say that using about two to four feed of sand as a filter will remove most microorganisms from water. Once you filter the water leave it exposed to sunlight to kill any remaining bacteria.
@@clayhayeshunter This is from the CDC about sand filtration: www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/household-water-treatment/sand-filtration.html The American Water Works Association has details on large scale sand filtration.
@@clayhayeshunterBS? Really? Because this is an actual method used in countries with high risk water. (Despite the locals not trusting it and buying bagged water 😂)
I'm from a smaller town and moved to the city for work recently. It's nuts what people believe when it comes to food/water hygiene in ultra urban areas. There's definitely a lot of nasties out there that'll get you awfully sick, but you don't need to treat everything with chemicals and antibiotics to make it "safe".
Cedar and Birch bark have phenols and other properties that are are anti microbial . A Canadian botanical herbalist, can't remember his name gives you all the imformation on Red Indian herbal medicine and botanical biochemistry ? ? ?
China pours in the drugs to America and America doesn't do s*** but if America or anyone took drugs into China it would be the death penalty they would hunt them down and kill them like animals.
Live in NZ and a couple of decades ago when I was young pretty much any of our rivers you could freely swim in (great times - no crocs snakes or anything here) and drink from - it is definitely not the case any more after intensive farming and cities running crap off into nature
True to a degree. That said living in urban areas the risk of contamination is much higher because of the higher concentration of people and their waste/garbage. I wouldn't rely on surface well water anywhere that has been exposed to long term motor vehicle traffic because the lead levels are likely to be pretty bad.
These "safe water" videos really seems strange to me... specially in the wilderness. I'm from Portugal, and we never think about this...in fact we have a habit of build small structures in springs, generally just a pipe cased into cement, to make it easier to drink. Mi village, alongside with treated tap water, have several "public water points" with spring water scattered throughout the village... There are people that doesn't even use tap water. We swim in every dam, river or stream of water and obviously, sometimes we inadvertently drink it. I'm 45 years old and I never, never heard of someone getting sick by drinking water.
I agree Clay, I've harvested a lot of firewood in the mountains here in Washington state. I've always drank the water from streams. I get it where it runs through moss. Never had a problem and I'm almost 70 years old and I have done this for many years.
there more civilization time the more nature around us with bacterias, trash, and evolution of bacterias in new stronger species. lakes already has dangerous bacterias even swim not allowed , dirty water
2 years late, but i feel like alot of it is how good your immune system is, its like dogs and raw meat, you can raise dogs on raw meat and they will be so much healthier than kibble dogs, you feed a kibble raised dog one peice of raw meat and they potentially die
Hey Clay. In your video right around about 4:45 and a bit after I have a recommendation to consider or add to your self thought up design for the cedar bark line well filter you created there which I thought was a pretty brilliant idea by the way. Well done on it I liked it. So at the bottom, where you have the only bit of exposed mud that could make contact with the water and the need to try to not stir up the silt by agitating the water contaminating your water that you would drink... Here's my recommendation. When building and putting it all together, add a bottom layer of either small rocks and slightly larger rocks. Maybe a couple to several inch layer or more. Cleaning them off the best you can in running water of course. But adding that layer will give space for silt to fall through that rock. It will also, make it much harder to stir up any silt when dipping a cup or whatever container you are using to pull water out of the hole. Moving water just wont disturb the silt as it will be somewhat blocked by the layer of rock you add at the bottom. Hope that makes sense. I haven't finished watching the whole video, so if you already thought of this just disregard my recommendation. Thanks for the video.
@@ChuckSisk-tv8eh If you're worried about it throw them in a fire then put them in. Done. With that being said, people put all sorts of different material in to create a water filter. So nearly everything would be contaminated with your theory. With that being said, why are you not bringing your water to a boil after you filter it anyway?
Друзья, разрешите вставить пару слов! В одном видео на Ютубе я видел, как один наш (русский) блогер делал такую яму как Клэй. Для предотвращения взбалтывания мути, и дополнительной фильтрации воды автор видео отделывал стенки ямы тонкими ивовыми прутьями, воткнутыми в дно по периметру. А между ними и стенками ямы он закладывал чистый мох. Так же и на дно, придерживая его там с помощью горизонтальных прутиков. Мох сам по себе обладает антимикробными свойствами. В Великую Отечественную войну (2 Мировую) чистый болотный мох в СССР использовали даже в качестве перевязочного материала для тяжёлых ран, когда настоящего перевязочного материала и медикаментов не хватало. Кроме того, из-за плотного сплетения моховых волокон и мельчайших листиков это был прекрасный фильтр для мути в воде. Мох из болот - сфагнум, может переносить длительное затопление, и по этому эта яма долго может работать без замены фильтрующего мха. Хочу сам как-нибудь сделать подобное. Ведь личный опыт - самое надёжное учебное пособие.
When you were dipping out of the mountain stream I was reminded of a story. A friend knew a couple that was total eco nazi material. They had taken two weeks of vacation and had hiked for three days to reach 'the spot' they both knew nobody was around and they dipped right out of that stream. they were sick for a week. Once they had recovered enough they walked up stream and found where someone even left a little toilet paper on a rock in that stream. They had assumed it was safe. Had they walked the requisite two hundred feet and checked they'd have been fine and could have avoided that mistake. Great video by the way.
I'm from S.E. Louisiana and I was licensed and certified in Water Treatment, Water Production, Water Distribution, Wastewater Treatment and Wastewater Collection for years by the Louisiana Dept. of Health and Hospitals, the same that license Doctors and Nurses. I feel qualified to tell you there is absolutely no problem with what you are doing. Like you said, people have been doing this a long time, but society has become brainwashed deliberately. Bottled water for instance has more bad qualities than tap water. Do you think the name "Evian" is by accident? Spell it backwards and you have the word Naive, think about that for a while.
I'd risk drinking the lined well water for sure! But I'd be much more careful to first test then filter the home well. Even the proximity the concrete buildings, shed filled with chemicals possibly would make me weary of arsenic. It's odourless & tasteless & could be in very small doses toxic after a long period of time?! What do you think?
One of any the most comprehensive survival techniques I’ve seen. I’ve had military survival training and this was better presented and more pertinent than other presentations.
Thanks, Clay. If you put a piece of cloth (like a handkerchief or a piece of a shemagh) on the bottom of the well when recently made, you can get even cleaner water with less time and less bailing out. What has worked well for me is to cut the cloth slightly larger than the external diameter of the well, and then insert it into the bottom of the well using some blunt sticks or stones to it. Works great.
I've lined a couple with charcoal and rocks and it works great. I, personally, think it's safer than any city treated water. That shit scares the hell outta me!
Don't forget !!you can dig deeper and you can line that well without plastic pipe PVC or anything!!! and cover the top of it and keep it hidden and it will last for years, the deeper the better!! and then you can draw the water up with a can or a container on a rope or string!
Greetings from Nayarit Mexico. My grandfather did this exact same thing with the additional when digging a well, he would then make a fire to char the bottom and sides for better filtration. Keep making great videos.
We carry the blue Berkey water bottles when hiking. I have seen a few DIY filter videos that require some container. This is a natural filtering system and simple. I like it for the simplicity and how obviously effective it is. For those more cautious you could still use a life straw or a Berkey after you filter this way and extend the amount of water you could run through those filters by a great deal using this technique. Nicely done.
@@clayhayeshunter had only 1 water source for 20 miles in forrest once, green algae pond. Used a pump type Katadyn filter, water was still green , drank it and never got sick.
In his book, "Forty Years in the Everglades," Calvin Stone describes how they would make a "scratch well." They'd just scratch out a hole with their hands and easily hit water. It's the Everglades. He said the water would be muddy at first, and to dip it out with something. After three or four times the water would be clear. He said he had drunk "many a gallon of water" from scratch wells, which yields water fresh enough and clear enough to drink. Since I can easily carry a filter and chemicals with me, I haven't tried drinking from a scratch well, but have always been intrigued by the concept. Your video is also intriguing. If I were in a SHTF situation with no way to boil or otherwise filter or disinfect my water, I'd do what you suggest here. Of course, another way is to use solar disinfection, meaning put some relatively clear water--say the water from your scratch well--in a 2-liter plastic soda bottle (PET-polyethylene terephthalate) and expose it to the sunlight for a day or two (one day if it's sunny, two days if it's cloudy), to kill enteric pathogens. If you have numerous bottles, all the better. Thanks for this video.
This is VALUABLE information. I'll be banking this. On the topic of lining, moss is relatively easy to find around here and with the natural iodine in moss SURELY it would be good dual purpose well lining providing some decontamination. Keep these coming Clay!
This was a great video Clay, and I hope it helps dispel many of the "myths" folks have about "wild water" portability without heat-treating...So many I have met over the years (including professionals in the field of "outdoor" education) lack proper understanding and/or training in this area...My own students have often come back to me to state that they get told that methods like this are hazardous and risky...yet...those making those claims have virtually no "real" knowledge about wilderness living even though they work in the profession...This was a welcome video to see...
so maybe it would be better to do some tests of that water and provide solid scientific proof? I could use your videos at my English lessons. My students love ecology and saving our planet!
@@English_Lessons_Pre-Int_Interm Hi Larin...It has been tested...many times and in many different modalities...As a teacher myself, this is a great project to do in an Ecology/Biology class as I had in high school myself...and then went on to do in my own class. If interested this is something you could pursue with your own class...Even a simple flora/faun count of a sample and control under a micro scope can reveal a great deal and be fun for the class too...Good Luck!!!
I take novices and kids backpacking. I taught them to purify water but also taught them about my family drinking wild water, washing dishes with gravely stuff, and to take anything soiled away from water sources. I taught purifying for liability reasons but can’t help but teach the facts you’re sharing. Much appreciated.
@@sheffi01008631 I don't teach or Wilderness Guide as often as I once did, but I make sure to always inform clients/students that there is a "spectrum" of "safe water" when in a wilderness setting from the perspective of what is "safe for me" and what is "safe for them"...all the way to different purification modalities and standards...Your approach to forming the "liability reasons" is logical and pragmatic...One of the reasons I have enjoyed Clay's channel and his approach to things is having similar backgrounds in Wildlife Biology and his logical experiential approach while still embracing traditions when he learns them...This is a fantastic channel for experts and novices alike...
Thanks for posting this follow up, Clay. A lost casual hiker isn't likely to have water purification tabs, so this content was ideal for situations where someone must work from scratch. I've also heard that water exposed to direct sunlight eliminates pathogens, for example, a sealable clear baggie used to contain creek water--not sure about that one. Your home well is awesome brother!
Right on the mark! I visited Africa some years ago and while climbing Mulanje I ran out of water and had no filtration with me. However, local experts informed me that since we would be above 5 thousand feet and climbing that it would be safe to drink water from the mountainside stream along our path up. I did so regularly and suffered no ill effects whatsoever.
We use to carry a bucket when hiking/camping with the bottom cut out of it just for the purpose of a liner for a coyote well, same idea you had with the wood slats lining the sidewalls of the well. Worked really well the few times we every used it.
Thanks for posting. I remember reading about this years ago but I'd never seen it done. I believe this has been providiing potable water for thousands of years.
It would be interesting to see the cedar bark one under a microscope, and see what it looks like "close up". In our super hygienic western lifestyle, it's arguable that we are conditioning our bodies to be less capable of living in the outdoors, and that lack of exposure to good microbes is actually hurting us. I wonder if this system, done very carefully and maintained well, would actually provide additional health benefits as opposed to chemically treated tap water.
It's already known as the cleanliness paradox... lots more Auto-Immune diseases in clean conditions. Although their presence wouldn't be 0, the number of those would be cut back. I can tell you however that in the end you will save more lives with clean tap water than any 'health benefits' you think you can get from drinking risky water.
@@clayhayeshunter It really is not. If you count the lives lost from drinking unclean water, I think you will see how nonsensical the statement is. Cost-benefit is not looking good on this one.
Very good observation . I heard of a study on gut floral where they observed the floral of westerners and compared it to tribal people I don't remember the exact numbers but the westerner gut floral was like 400 and the tribes had like 1200
This guy is full of wonderful treasures and I still cannot believe that there's still people out there that actually live the way I do. TNX I love your movies just wish they were longer...lol
My grandfather had 2 wells. 1 for livestock the other for people. I loved that well with the large stones. The water was so cool and good. I don't know how he made it or how deep it was. I wish I knew all my parents and grandparents knew. They are all gone now. Now our city water has a notice of a small amount of chemical that if it was more we could be in really bad health.
Generally they use chlorine to kill or weaken any pathogens in the water. That way your digestive system can break down the weakened pathogens before they recover and can make you sick. Just so you know, chlorine is also volatile. Not in the dangerous way but in that it evaporates fairly fast, much faster than water. If you fill a large container with water and cover it with a cloth for 24 to 48 hours, almost all of the chlorine will have evaporated out and then you can cap it off and put it in the refrigerator and have cold and much better tasting water to drink than the water straight out of the tap. More work than an activated charcoal filter but also much cheaper and no maintenance and replacement filter cost.
Excellent presentation! This is very useful knowledge, for anyone who might be in an extended wilderness or survival situation. Back in the day (late 1960s!) we used to rely on collecting water to drink while bushwalking, mostly in mountain areas here in Australia. With a bit of common sense (eg avoiding agricultural run-off & cow pasture) we never had any issues. Then in 1981 I lived for 6 months in India, and for one of those months I lived in a hut with an earth floor in the Himalayan foothills (a small town called Manali). There was a beautiful, pristine-looking stream, and a mountain spring where I collected water in a bucket. Unfortunately, even back then & even in rural India I learned the hard way that what appears to be a pristine spring might not be quite so pristine, and in India, no matter how high up you go, there is always someone living upstream of you. I got giardia, my 3-year-old son got amoebic dysentery, and now we have giardia endemic in Australia too, sadly. Giardia is not nice, and amoeba is worse, and neither resolve on their own, so these days I have a Survivor Filter (that kept me disease-free drinking tap water in Bali for 6 weeks - no mean feat!) But it's good to have knowledge of how to improve your chances of getting safe drinking water in an emergency or wilderness situation... thank you!
I have drank water out of a creek or stream just about all my life and it never hurt me,our tap water here in the southern California desert sucks man , I don't drink it, cool video brother
Thank you VERY much for making this video. We have everything on our homestead we need (60 acres in isolation) but in a real bug out scenario this is excellent. Again, thank you for taking the time and effort in doing this, it is very much appreciated. May God bless and watch over you and yours. Thanks
Glad you mentioned at the end to cover the hole to prevent mice feces contamination. Foxes also have a habit of pissing on everything including pans for water and food. I put some watermelon rinds out for opossums and watched on a trail cam a fox pissing all over them.
I'm from the mountains of eastern Kentucky. I've drank water from those mountains a lot of my life. I've never had any issues from it. Actually some of the best tasting water I've ever had. Good content brother.
My grandfather helped building wells back in the days. They laid bricks on the outside and put a layer of gravel on the bottom. I think gravel might help your "project" well as well.
Thanks for showing this I used to think when watching films and they were dieing of thirst why could you not get water from the tree bark ..I know I'm only talking about films lol but this used to bug the life outta me.. now you prove my survival skills...lol ..
Interesting, I learnt that technique for shallow well digging as a kid in the 80's, we used birch bark for the casing/liner. Also the first drawing of water looks like the city water in my hometown here in England 🤔 I use a countertop filter at home, but at a few places I use for relaxing I just boil the ground water.
I would definitely set back one to two meters from the water edge. I'm more worried about pollution in surface and shallow ground water then other issues. So for me filtration is usually something I do weather I have to or not.
Very interesting and good info. I noticed that water from 1st dip in 1st well changed color... alot by the next day. I also noticed the 2nd well look to be further and higher up from the creek than the 1st well. That may have affected the water clarity
When I was a kid in the '70s they taught us in school that as long as the water was running quickly the protozoa and amoeba that could make us sick could not propagate and was safe. A lesson I believed for the most part but imagined how it could easily be a dangerous idea. At age 11 after deliberating this idea as I came upon a swift moving stream in the foothills of South Carolina where I often hiked, I chose to continue on without drinking even though I was quite thirsty at that point. Not 20 yards upstream I came upon a deep pool in the stream that was absolutely putrified by the dead deer carcass that lay rotting in its center. Hmmmmm....... I continued on to a moss covered granite rock escarpment where water seeped from hundreds of feet above and drank my fill as usual. Wth? I thought. Water may be moving quickly but what does it matter if the source of that agitated and oxygenated water is contaminated? That was my first real life lesson that taught me that the education system was broken. Sometimes it's best to use our God given common sense. Anything you can do to filter and decontaminate a water source is time well spent. Or, get it from the source, the ground, after it has slowly percolated through the Earth's strata. The more the better.
my understanding is about 6 feet of water falling down rocks oxygenates out all bugs. however i always go upstream if possible as you did also look above any spring for higher sources
Notes: "Coyote Well" 1.5 to 2 feet away from creek His well was around 16 inches deep. (The top of your well water will get to the level of the top of the creek water beside you.) Avoid large roots. - I couldn't remember all that by the end of the video, so listed it. Thank you for all this information!!!
Great video! IF someone is still concerned about water purity, at least dig the well, THEN use a filter for it. This will preserve your filter longer. You can also dig a well at higher elevations if it scares you to drink it straight from the creek/river. I drink water straight from rivers and creeks in Utah often. LOVE IT! ITS SO HEALTHY!
I am very glad I clicked on this video! Lining the bottom of the well with stones or gravel, would produce even cleaner water! Water is life. This video is life saving information! Great work my friend! 👏👏🔥
My parent's Prarie farm has a small river that runs through it, 12 -20 ft wide 2 -5 ft deep, about 10 miles from the starting tributaries. The area is about 3/4 grain farms and 1/4 cattle.lots of wildlife around the river including beaver. I have drank staight from the river occasionally with no regrets. That coyote well would work great, and i look forward to trying it!
Great video! I was raised on well water and we never thought anything about it. I was 10 years old when we went to city water...Im 58 now...and I had relatives had wells also. Makes a lot of sense the content of your video! Thanks...Wasn't Jesus going for water from a well when he met the woman at the well....hmmm .Gods water filtration system already designed perfectly "well"! Great job!
if you put charcoal in bottom of the bark flitter the water will fill up over the charcoal giving you an active filter as well. this works great when you dig it a bit further back from the water source and deeper (to add room for the charcoal)
Hi Clay, very interesting presentation from anyone's point of view and I can't wait to share the video presentation and the Coyote well idea with my daughterin-law who is a horticulturist and I'm sure that she - like me - will want to try this filtering method on my dam water at my camping bush block of 2 acres that supposedly cannot be built on due to council building regulations that will not allow a dwelling to be put on it because a septic tank could contaminate the water [ which of course is a fair enough assumption] and although the camping block is not in a known flood plain area according to the council it is subjected to flooding half the block if the rains in the area are excessive or go for too long as runoff from adjacent properties and even the road that slopes down to this natural dam pooling area on my block will theoretically never run dry and thus although there is no creek or river close by - will always have water in it - that now can be filtered cheaply and efficiently with a permanent coyote well [ or many such wells around this dam - which has never been dug out by machines] I already had a workaround plan for being able to eventually build on the block - and that was to actually have the dam dug deeper [ by front end loader] to take even more runoff from adjacent properties and the road which may or may not stop the block from flooding halfway to where my proposed - but probably still refused or denied building would be situated by asking for a permit to have a bio-toilet or composting toilet system installed [ that don't use fresh water wastefully and are completely eco-friendly and use bacteria to break down waste material that can then be used for fertilizer on the garden in any dwelling I might build. Now, as to How I would make permanent Coyote well[s] is to dig the pit/hole big enough to accommodate some supporting red gum palings in the rough shape of a bucket/barrel nd do as you have done with the bark. I've no idea what flavour might ensue from the redgum in-ground red-gum but bottomless barrel [ that I will now test out ] but Red gum posts I already recycle through my local Fencing contractor who is constantly getting me more of them and stacking them for me in a pile at his house - since I asked him if I could have them instead of them being wastefully deposited in landfills at the local tip or recycling centre. I also have ample supplies of Hardwood fence palings that I burn as heating and could possibly try some of those but they are usually very old and partly decayed whereas the red- gum is as good as new from the ground up and can be repurposed as I have done for other foundational work and new but shorter fences to about 4 feet high. I have been using the 18 inches that has been in the ground for many years [ that I saw off of these fence posts] for fueling my wood burning heater and keeping me warm in winter for several years now and have accumulated what amounts to a small lumber yard in my present semi-rural/suburban property [ 1/4 acre town block] in a country town approximately 1 hrs drive west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. So you can rest assured that there will now be some Coyote wells in Australia too! As I can't wait to try one out at the bush block about 110Ks from my present location - but the 'bush block' that currently has just an 18X12 shed of single garage size and a stripped out but lined caravan -[ as also not allowed to cook on the block in bushfire season in summertime] approximately 6 feet apart from the shed but aligned to it so that a deck can be built in between almost entirely from Red Gum posts cut down Lengthways to make 3-4 feet lengths of decking approximately 1 1 /2 inches thick [allowing for the saw-cut into 3-4 inches depth] of fence posts that are 5 inches wide and will be what would be used for the red-gum inground Coyote bottomless barrels. I also have hardwood fence posts that might provide a different flavour. 👍 🤨😉 But in our case the new Coyote wells might just get renamed, 'Dingo wells' - by yours truly. 😉🙃
This is probably the best filtering scenario one can find. Clay(the soil particle) has the smallest pore size of any natural substrate. If that creek bank was sand it would still be clear but probably higher concentration of the diarrhea bugs 🙂
sand is recommended filtration system for third world countries by WTO. They have a paper with particle size and everything. Actually it's not the finest sand that's recommended. I'd fill this pit with sand and charcoal and dug a second hole into it - that would do tricks. The next thing I'd do is letting it sit and sediment on the Sun. In the evening or in couple of days there would be a layer at the bottom and UV rays from the sun should kill the rest of floating microbes
This is a great teaching video Clay. I just finished watching season 8 of Alone and wanted to congratulate you on your well earned victory. That is what led me to your channel here. You really impressed me with your survival skills, mental toughness and determination to be the last one to leave Chilko Lake. Thanks for the lessons and the inspiration. You have a new subscriber. 🙏
I watched this to learn the coyote well, but to see the lined well was such a bonus. I really appreciate this vid, this is the kind of tutorial that everyone needs.
Great video, haven't seen one of these types of wells since I was a kid. By law every city, and town has to do test every few years on water quality. And if you go to the city hall clerks office, and ask for the results of the test, they're legally obligated to give you a copy of the results for free. And in some places once you've read the results of said tests, you'd be less afraid of drinking the water straight from the creek in this video than your city's water. I pretty sure people in Flint Michigan would rather drink the creek water.
Great content! Solid presentation 💯 One point: in the beginning you say it’s dangerous to drink from a stream when when there’s seepage from septic system, and then talk about the water “seeping” into your little well. Might help to include an explanation as to why the pathogens that seep into the creek won’t seep into your well. Anyhow, excellent tip, I’d be happy to drink that water!
Because the water from this little well comes from the water t as ble under ground, not creek water which may be contaminated. The soil acts like a filter. People also pick grasses and lay at the bottom of the hole to filter out dirt as it seeps to the top. You're suppose to make sure you dig it at least a foot or two from the creek edge.
Two stories. One, while riding dirt bikes up an old mining trail (in Alaska) we came across a beautiful mountain stream. Hiking upstream to the waterfall that was the source of the stream, we found the pool at the bottom of the falls in a small box canyon, which still had quite a bit of snow left from winter, which was covered with sheep poop. And to think I almost took a big swig of the clear, cold water. Two, while hiking a small mountain, I drank from clear little trickle coming out of the moss near the top of the rounded summit. Apparently it was fed by an underground spring. I got beaver fever from that fresh, clear great tasting water. I drunk from countless streams before and after, with no problems. I guess you just never know.
Animals and fish still drop their #2's in the water sources. I almost drank from a "natural spring" I came across in the mountains and turns out the spring was just a crack in the rock face that brackish water seeped into and emerged at the base of the Cliff. As thirsty as you might be and innocent as the water source might look you always have to check first for safety.
Same expirience. One very hot summer day In 2018, when hiking in Altai I found a stream about 200m or so below the summit. I had drinkable water, but was tempted to at least wash my face. Just to be sure went upstream and only 50m away found a swarm of flies around dead badger - poor fella tried to reach water below big rocks which shifted under his weight and trap his head. On the other hand in the forest at the mountain foot were places where geologists took core samples - steel tubes left sticking out of the ground. Some of them pierced underground waterveins and become artificial springs - those were considered safe by locals.
Awesome stuff. Is there a good rule of thumb for how far from the creek's edge you should dig? I'm assuming that if it's too far, it may not fill as well, and if it's too close it may not filter as well, is that right?
If the banks weren’t so steep I’d have moved a little farther. If it’s gravely soils or coarse sand, if recall moving a lot farther. Fine sand works well as a filter though so probably just a few feet in that case.
Seems to me I had heard 3 feet is a good distance. And consider also, if one were going to utilize the 'well' for any length of time, an angled well might help any mice or other small creatures who might fall into the well a way to get out instead of dying and thereby contaminating the well. Charcoal in the well might help the taste.
@@clayhayeshunter clay Haynes someone contacted me saying it was you that my comment won a Matthews compound bow and wanted $60 for shipping and handling. I have pictures of the whole conversation but when I asked him to verify it was you by taking a picture of your driver's license with a spoon over the address and send it within 2 minutes they never sent the picture. So someone is using your channel to rip people off. If you would like the pictures I will send them to you. Would you like for me to go to the police department to let them know what's going on.?
@@justuschmiii3173 you can report that channel through UA-cam. Might have to use the desktop site, but if you go to their channel you can report and then state it's for impersonation.
I always heard of these referred to as Gypsie wells. I've always wondered why it isn't standard practice on any of those survival shows to dig them. Even if you still want to boil it first, it's far better to get your water from one of these.
Let’s say I wanted to build my own well for long term use. So dig deeper, give it a sealable cover, give it a nice enterior wall(what material just brick and mortar?), and then should I line the bottom? I feel like a layer of pebbles or gravel at the bottom would help keep even more silt out! Is there any way you can tell if a well has become contaminated? What if I want to build my own sceptic system on my property could that interfere? Great video thanks to anyone who replies to this
I am a water expert, as I work with Reverse Osmosis plants (water desalination) . You are indeed correct in your assessment of the situations regarding tap water, it is just filtered or in some cases chemically treated. If society went back to using predominantly wells to get water, it would be wholly better for the environment. Bottled water is also a massive con! Usually much more parts per million than filtered or tap water. Like you said, safest way is to boil, bar none. Great vid, great advice.
I think it is important to note that this method shouldn't be used in soft river bottoms where the river channel constantly moves from one point to another. It is best to use it on rising banks, like the one shown in this video. If you are forced to use this method on mud flats, or sand bars, it is imperative that you boil the water afterwards, or use iodine to disinfect the water. I would, also, still recommend disinfecting the water that was produced in this video, or running it through a high-end filtering device with high filtration capabilities. In this instance the pre-filtration that occurs in the coyote hole will cause your actual filter last a very long time.
Will have to try making the lined version here. We're in clay, which stays in suspension no matter what. It'd be interesting to see if the bark lining is capable of filtering out the clay while still allowing water through. We prefer "wild water" over bottled any day. Some people just can't drink it, though. Like, we had a city boy stay with us at our old house for awhile, and he got sick every time he drank our tap (well) water. I guess there was something in it that rural folks are just simply immune to, lol 😆
super common in travel to get sick from tap water, whether thats cause of climate change or region change - simply from the bioflora in that water! slow introduction with bottled water is your best bet, and after a week or two youre good.
Thanks for this video Clay. Great knowledge to have... I do have one question, what about chemical containments like fuel, fertlizer, oils or Algae bloom that we tend to have here in Florida. Will the soil filter that out?
Depends on the contaminants. Things like nitrogen are soluble and can travel a long way in ground water. Most harmful pathogens filter out pretty quick. I’ve done this in the southeast but I was out in the woods away from the subdivisions and ag fields.
Many industrial contaminates are perfectly capable of infiltrating the water table. Here in upstate NY, the Village of Endicott has been dealing with an IBM "spill" (likely there are other industrial contributors as well) that happened in the 1970's. You can also get naturally occurring metals & the like in groundwater. Obviously it varies from location to location. The algae is an interesting one. I have a hard time picturing algae surviving in ground water due to its reliance on the sun for its survival.
Great job. I like the fact that you said you would not give a 100% guarantee on safety. Would I drink it as a Water Plant Operator? Yes and no. Over drinking straight from the creek but, given time I would still boil it. We basically use this same technology to turn lake water into drinking water. As a side note chlorine tablets and the like will not kill Crypto. If I were forced to drink from a dirty source. I would filter and boil.
Ive been slugging down river, stream, spring, and lake water, completely untreated, for my entire life. I attribute it to being a good part native american. It does absolutely seem that our people can drink untreated without issues much more than normal folks can. Im outdoors for a good 3days a week and have nevwrvreally thought to filter anything. My buddies are always filtering, plugging filters, buying filters etc. I just reach down with my flask, fill it up, and slam it down. Never one issue. Also in minneaota so not as bad quality water as in the southern us.
@@JayTX. and yes, as all water flows from north to south in the central united states, it does pick up more contaminants as it makes its way south. Look at any dnr fish consumption advisories from north to south. Poorer quality in south vs north in most all cases
@@eduffy4937 I wasn't referring to only rivers making their way to the ocean, our natural springs and streams are some of the cleanest I've came in contact with
Another idea. Dig the hole in the shape of a terracotta planter pot, slip the pot into the hole so it's snug in the hole (plug the small drain hole in the bottom of pot). The water should work it's way through the pot walls - very slowly - but you now have a ceramic filter. Use pots made in Italy bc they don't add chemicals to the terracotta. Use an upside down pot tray as the lid!
Very interesting and useful. Some years ago we lived in CT and had a dug well sourcing all our water. It was filtered naturally through rock layers and was clean and delicious. We had it tested periodically just to be sure. It was clear and free of all contaminants. Then, the open pasture land nearby was sold off for new homes, all with septic fields. Within 6 months our crystal clear safe water [and our long time neighbors too] was contaminated and unusable. Does no one care about the safety of our water supply? We couldn't get any satisfaction from town or county officials and had to get water [awful stuff but "safe" to drink with chlorine, etc added] tanked in. Eventually there were town water pipes , but our beautiful aquifer water was gone forever.
grew up drinking river water and Creek water. if you know what to look for and how the Earth can naturally filter it your golden 🤙🏻🤙🏻 my favorite was always the natural soda water springs in northern California, there's literally probably a proper term for it but we grew up calling it soda water 🤣
Spring Water is the term I used with looking for a Bubbler Spring (not the proper term) on this one place my dad in summer would help work on restoring to natural. I refilled a water bottle with the water sometimes if it was hot out and I was helping.
We call it natural spring water here in Australia. I remember when I was young we would go camping and there was a pump, you could pump the bubbly water into water bottles or containers. It smelt like farts as we called it (it was the sulphur smell). We would add 'cordial' which is a big thing here in Australia, adds a flavour. It was fizzy softdrink (soda) for us. As far as I know, america and alot of other places don't have cordial. Closest think I think is probably Kool-Aid or some syrup blend like Ribena or something.
@@spaaggetii Strike a light!! You’re lucky you could even FIND any water in a creek! Down here in South Australia EVERY creek is stubbornly dry. We’ll never even be able to test out Clay’s suggestion here! Louise, Australia 🦘
This is awesome! Gave me the idea to dig a hole in my yard for ground water. I put up my cedar fence and hit water in about a foot and a half. I live next to wetlands so I should be good. Thank you
Thanks for the tips. In the 60s i drank water out of the lake in Canada. Never got sick. I quit about 1978 because of acid rain. My grandmother would pull off the road in Indiana and we would drink out of a spring fed ditch. Also in the 60s
My cousin sent a sample of our local tap water in to be tested, along with samples from her well, a creek and a mud hole in her driveway. The ONLY sample that tested "Not Fit for Human Consumption" was the tap water.
Question: I really liked the lined w/cedar well concept but my concern would be whether anything can leech out of the bark that could be potentially harmful or add flavor to the water. Cedar is generally really pungent. Is that a possibility or do you prepare the bark panels somehow?
My Paw taught me how to dig a "beaver well" in my early teens. Idk that's what he called it lol but same thing. That bark liner is NEXT LEVEL!!! 🤘🤘🤘 Awesome video Clay thanks again
Thanks Clay, awesome experiment complete with comparisons....very insightful...now I know how to get to water in an emergency. Appreciate you and your time. Blessings
As a child, I drank and bathed in a surface well at my great grandparents farm. Didn't hurt me, my mom and anyone else in our family. Thanks for sharing your video.
In the 1970s while camping on a National Park in Arkansas I made orange juice using water from a "crystal clear" creek. The water was ice cold. Unfortunately, I and the people I was camping with got so sick we had to check into a motel for 3 days. It was constant throwing up and diarrhea. I personally do not want to do that again. Just because it is ice cold crystal water clear does not mean it is safe to drink. I think digging a hole near to the creek would have produced drinkable water, but I would currently hesitate because of what happened. I also have a dug well where all of my water comes from.
I like that your video is straightforward, no extra music, and you talk to the point. I've been searching for days to find a good channel and yours seems like. So i have subscribed.... Can you also show how to retrieve water from trees / plants for survival incase there's no water bodies around?
even if you filter the water that natural way, i would still boil it and put it in a cool area for it to cool down, so it could be very refreshing to drink
What you are showing today, my father taught me 60+ years ago. I am delighted to see basic living skills being passed along. Good job, my friend.
Thanks Douglas
I believe the ‘fear mongers’ have used the same tactics to cause us to fear home canned, fermented, and cultured foods. 🤨 This has given me the courage to speak up about ‘you won’t die if the date on the carton goes past a week’ 😂 My mom always said ‘it’s good 5 days past the date’ for refrigerated foods’. And canned goods were good for a couple years.
And ‘V’s are unavoidably unsafe’
Thanks for sharing... 💖
Brilliant...
🌎: '' Pida Pila Miya yeh....a thank you from a Dakota Lakota Nakota/Sioux*....🙂🤗good-happy for you and all teaders, interested funLearners*......
....''😶....oops, readers....🙂''........
I drank crystal clear water from a fast moving stream at 6,000 ft. Trinity Alps Ca. 3 days later had to go to ER. I had Giardia, never been so sick. My wife drank same water but boiled, she didn't get sick Crystal clear does not mean it's ok. I always boil now, learned the hard way man.
Yeah, beaver fever is everywhere. I read that there is contamination by that in a lot more places than in colonial days. I’m not sure why.
Having seen decaying goat corpses in alpine snow melt, I always filter. And it tastes great!
I have been rowing in a river (Guapore) at the boder between Bolivia and Brazil , with a friend , and we drunk water straight from the river witout any filter at all !! Even with all the cattle around , and never had health trouble at all , neither during our trip of one month , nor after !! May be it was pure luck !! Lol lol !!!
I thought it took six weeks for Giarda to be symptomatic.
@@bernardmichel8521it's definitely a gamble and any source of water could be vastly different. Even if it looks clean and clear there could be plenty of things we wont notice until it's to late 😂
Hi Clay,
I am considered a water purification expert. I work with everything from drinking water to Ultra-Pure Semiconductor water and WFI for Pharmaceuticals. I am also an outdoor enthusiast. I found your video to be excellent for the straightforward, low-tech treatment of fair water sources. You did not make any unreasonable claims. You have a great deal of common sense and some scientific understanding. YOu are a bold man to drink the first batch from the well. When I hiked the AT, I drank water out of beaver dams from Georgia to Maine, and never got sick once. I DO NOT recommend that for others by the way. I trusted the high elevation of the beaver dams and a clean stomach (not much food) to be a natural barrier to a lot of perils. I also only filled my canteen from spring water if available. I have never used water treatment devices with me when I hike. I am more trusting than most when it comes to water quality.
The real test would be to do some detailed microbiological assays, but that is a lot of work. Pathogens have a very hard time competing with the natural microbiome in the coyote well and in your healthy gut. That said, I would be scared to death to drink third-world water from almost any source due to ubiquitous human contamination. Think cholera.
Thanks for the great video. I look forward to checking out your other stuff on line.
Keep em coming Sir. And be careful.
Many thanks
THAT is an interesting thought. Drinking the water on a sober stomach...Maybe you can try some microbiological observations on viles collected from various water sources (different conditions etc). I'm not talking directly bacterial level, but at least light microscopic (unicellular organisms and the likes).
It boils down to the same thing every time i think (pun intended)...get the large contamination out with filtration...boil the product.
I wonder if tannin in the bark might work as an antibiotic/disinfectant?
@@paulh3935 I can't remember the exact details but I have read that during the exploration days of Florida/ Georgia, the crew of ocean crossing ships would replenish their water supply from inland swamps full of "blackwater", which is "black" because of so many tannins in it. Specifically, the Okeefenokke Swamp and it's water sheds like up river St. Mary's River and the Suwannee River. I can't remember the exact details but I seem to remember that this water was safer to drink than other water sources at the time and stored much longer without going putrid specifically because of the tannins in it. You are probably correct.
@@American-Plague thanks
As someone who got sick from drinking tap water I agree with you on the fact that tap water isn't always safe even if you run it through a filter. Our tap water in Houston got a fishy smell but the filter took that out and the water was still unsafe to drink. Absolutely no warnings went out from whatever body should issue such a warning. It was very hard to understand why I was getting sick until I smelled the water in my shower and realized it was bad. The local news did report on the issue eventually but I really feel for all the moms out there using tap water for their babies and having no idea why they were getting sick. At least I was able to figure it out.
Why u think they come up w the pneumonia vaccine = they know the tap water is bad & still let it flow like Flint, Michigan & Camp Lejuene, NC just to name a couple….and bt the toxins in baby formula & the high glucose content (being linked to SIDS, diabetes, obesity, just to name a few) the govts take the path of least resistance & the cheapest route of treatment (hence, kidney issues are epidemic)
That sounds like a dead body of some description in yr water source.
@@elwood212 say carcass, body sounds like human 🤣
I now boil my tap water and then run it thru a "Pur" filter in a jug.
I'm from the UK and lived down south in Cornwall for a while, I didn't know until a couple of days later that a crack developed in the water pipe to the house's, but I did when I turned the tap on and a centipede dropped into the glass !
I'm glad I used a clear glass cup or might of taken a gulp of it. 🤮
Distill it all now.
This method kept me alive when I was homeless for about a year. It's just a shallow well, doing the same thing as drilling for water just ALOT cheaper lol.
Wow 💕🤗🌟🙏
As an engineer who worked in water treatment I can say that using about two to four feed of sand as a filter will remove most microorganisms from water. Once you filter the water leave it exposed to sunlight to kill any remaining bacteria.
Thanks, there’s a lot of folks that think it’s BS🤷♂️
@@clayhayeshunter This is from the CDC about sand filtration: www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/household-water-treatment/sand-filtration.html The American Water Works Association has details on large scale sand filtration.
@@clayhayeshunterBS? Really? Because this is an actual method used in countries with high risk water. (Despite the locals not trusting it and buying bagged water 😂)
@@notmyrealname1437this article has sadly been removed.
@@pokemonpro8438 There are numerous articles on the Internet about sand filtration water treatment and many engineering articles and books.
I'm from a smaller town and moved to the city for work recently. It's nuts what people believe when it comes to food/water hygiene in ultra urban areas. There's definitely a lot of nasties out there that'll get you awfully sick, but you don't need to treat everything with chemicals and antibiotics to make it "safe".
Cedar and Birch bark have phenols and other properties that are are anti microbial . A Canadian botanical herbalist, can't remember his name gives you all the imformation on Red Indian herbal medicine and botanical biochemistry ? ? ?
China pours in the drugs to America and America doesn't do s*** but if America or anyone took drugs into China it would be the death penalty they would hunt them down and kill them like animals.
Live in NZ and a couple of decades ago when I was young pretty much any of our rivers you could freely swim in (great times - no crocs snakes or anything here) and drink from - it is definitely not the case any more after intensive farming and cities running crap off into nature
True to a degree. That said living in urban areas the risk of contamination is much higher because of the higher concentration of people and their waste/garbage. I wouldn't rely on surface well water anywhere that has been exposed to long term motor vehicle traffic because the lead levels are likely to be pretty bad.
These "safe water" videos really seems strange to me... specially in the wilderness.
I'm from Portugal, and we never think about this...in fact we have a habit of build small structures in springs, generally just a pipe cased into cement, to make it easier to drink.
Mi village, alongside with treated tap water, have several "public water points" with spring water scattered throughout the village... There are people that doesn't even use tap water.
We swim in every dam, river or stream of water and obviously, sometimes we inadvertently drink it.
I'm 45 years old and I never, never heard of someone getting sick by drinking water.
I agree Clay, I've harvested a lot of firewood in the mountains here in Washington state. I've always drank the water from streams. I get it where it runs through moss. Never had a problem and I'm almost 70 years old and I have done this for many years.
70 years?!?!
there more civilization time the more nature around us with bacterias, trash, and evolution of bacterias in new stronger species. lakes already has dangerous bacterias even swim not allowed , dirty water
2 years late, but i feel like alot of it is how good your immune system is, its like dogs and raw meat, you can raise dogs on raw meat and they will be so much healthier than kibble dogs, you feed a kibble raised dog one peice of raw meat and they potentially die
Hey Clay. In your video right around about 4:45 and a bit after I have a recommendation to consider or add to your self thought up design for the cedar bark line well filter you created there which I thought was a pretty brilliant idea by the way. Well done on it I liked it. So at the bottom, where you have the only bit of exposed mud that could make contact with the water and the need to try to not stir up the silt by agitating the water contaminating your water that you would drink... Here's my recommendation. When building and putting it all together, add a bottom layer of either small rocks and slightly larger rocks. Maybe a couple to several inch layer or more. Cleaning them off the best you can in running water of course. But adding that layer will give space for silt to fall through that rock. It will also, make it much harder to stir up any silt when dipping a cup or whatever container you are using to pull water out of the hole. Moving water just wont disturb the silt as it will be somewhat blocked by the layer of rock you add at the bottom. Hope that makes sense.
I haven't finished watching the whole video, so if you already thought of this just disregard my recommendation. Thanks for the video.
So u r go to put contaminated rocks into your filtered well system.
@@ChuckSisk-tv8eh If you're worried about it throw them in a fire then put them in. Done. With that being said, people put all sorts of different material in to create a water filter. So nearly everything would be contaminated with your theory.
With that being said, why are you not bringing your water to a boil after you filter it anyway?
I think I would add a bark layer to the bottom first then burn or boil rocks to add a few days later
Друзья, разрешите вставить пару слов!
В одном видео на Ютубе я видел, как один наш (русский) блогер делал такую яму как Клэй.
Для предотвращения взбалтывания мути, и дополнительной фильтрации воды автор видео отделывал стенки ямы тонкими ивовыми прутьями, воткнутыми в дно по периметру. А между ними и стенками ямы он закладывал чистый мох. Так же и на дно, придерживая его там с помощью горизонтальных прутиков.
Мох сам по себе обладает антимикробными свойствами.
В Великую Отечественную войну (2 Мировую) чистый болотный мох в СССР использовали даже в качестве перевязочного материала для тяжёлых ран, когда настоящего перевязочного материала и медикаментов не хватало.
Кроме того, из-за плотного сплетения моховых волокон и мельчайших листиков это был прекрасный фильтр для мути в воде.
Мох из болот - сфагнум, может переносить длительное затопление, и по этому эта яма долго может работать без замены фильтрующего мха.
Хочу сам как-нибудь сделать подобное. Ведь личный опыт - самое надёжное учебное пособие.
When you were dipping out of the mountain stream I was reminded of a story. A friend knew a couple that was total eco nazi material. They had taken two weeks of vacation and had hiked for three days to reach 'the spot' they both knew nobody was around and they dipped right out of that stream. they were sick for a week. Once they had recovered enough they walked up stream and found where someone even left a little toilet paper on a rock in that stream. They had assumed it was safe. Had they walked the requisite two hundred feet and checked they'd have been fine and could have avoided that mistake. Great video by the way.
I'm from S.E. Louisiana and I was licensed and certified in Water Treatment, Water Production, Water Distribution, Wastewater Treatment and Wastewater Collection for years by the Louisiana Dept. of Health and Hospitals, the same that license Doctors and Nurses. I feel qualified to tell you there is absolutely no problem with what you are doing. Like you said, people have been doing this a long time, but society has become brainwashed deliberately. Bottled water for instance has more bad qualities than tap water. Do you think the name "Evian" is by accident? Spell it backwards and you have the word Naive, think about that for a while.
Yes sir. Sadly criminals are at the wheel, and have been for more than a century.
Thanks
Hi Thanks. What do you think about gal. jugs of distilled water?
I'd risk drinking the lined well water for sure! But I'd be much more careful to first test then filter the home well. Even the proximity the concrete buildings, shed filled with chemicals possibly would make me weary of arsenic. It's odourless & tasteless & could be in very small doses toxic after a long period of time?! What do you think?
Wow you are so right! The evian spelled backwards thx! 🖒❤🙏🕇🇮🇱
One of any the most comprehensive survival techniques I’ve seen. I’ve had military survival training and this was better presented and more pertinent than other presentations.
Thanks John
Thanks, Clay. If you put a piece of cloth (like a handkerchief or a piece of a shemagh) on the bottom of the well when recently made, you can get even cleaner water with less time and less bailing out. What has worked well for me is to cut the cloth slightly larger than the external diameter of the well, and then insert it into the bottom of the well using some blunt sticks or stones to it. Works great.
Good tip
I've lined a couple with charcoal and rocks and it works great. I, personally, think it's safer than any city treated water. That shit scares the hell outta me!
My grandmother used to do this when the well dried up.. Apparently the coffee comes out delicious
Don't forget !!you can dig deeper and you can line that well without plastic pipe PVC or anything!!! and cover the top of it and keep it hidden and it will last for years, the deeper the better!! and then you can draw the water up with a can or a container on a rope or string!
@@duderino6171
It should! 😉👍🏽🤢
Greetings from Nayarit Mexico. My grandfather did this exact same thing with the additional when digging a well, he would then make a fire to char the bottom and sides for better filtration. Keep making great videos.
Most people don't realize how something so simple to make could be the most important valuable thing to know in a survival situation !
We carry the blue Berkey water bottles when hiking. I have seen a few DIY filter videos that require some container. This is a natural filtering system and simple. I like it for the simplicity and how obviously effective it is. For those more cautious you could still use a life straw or a Berkey after you filter this way and extend the amount of water you could run through those filters by a great deal using this technique. Nicely done.
Thanks Rick
@@clayhayeshunter had only 1 water source for 20 miles in forrest once, green algae pond. Used a pump type Katadyn filter, water was still green , drank it and never got sick.
🤢
Nope, didn’t affect me a bit 😁
Fantastic lesson. I would love to see the water from the creek under a microscope and compare it to the coyote well's water
😁
I'd like to see that too!
Yea have it tested, love to know if it meets drinking water quality.
I'll post my link
I'd like to see the pipelined water from our water "authotities" - they are intentionally poisoning us.
In his book, "Forty Years in the Everglades," Calvin Stone describes how they would make a "scratch well." They'd just scratch out a hole with their hands and easily hit water. It's the Everglades. He said the water would be muddy at first, and to dip it out with something. After three or four times the water would be clear. He said he had drunk "many a gallon of water" from scratch wells, which yields water fresh enough and clear enough to drink. Since I can easily carry a filter and chemicals with me, I haven't tried drinking from a scratch well, but have always been intrigued by the concept. Your video is also intriguing. If I were in a SHTF situation with no way to boil or otherwise filter or disinfect my water, I'd do what you suggest here. Of course, another way is to use solar disinfection, meaning put some relatively clear water--say the water from your scratch well--in a 2-liter plastic soda bottle (PET-polyethylene terephthalate) and expose it to the sunlight for a day or two (one day if it's sunny, two days if it's cloudy), to kill enteric pathogens. If you have numerous bottles, all the better. Thanks for this video.
Glad to see someone teaching these things. Some day it will be very helpful.
This is VALUABLE information. I'll be banking this. On the topic of lining, moss is relatively easy to find around here and with the natural iodine in moss SURELY it would be good dual purpose well lining providing some decontamination. Keep these coming Clay!
Ooo, I’ll look into that!
Maybe line the hole with charcoal then use the moss inside that to hold the charcoal in place.
This was a great video Clay, and I hope it helps dispel many of the "myths" folks have about "wild water" portability without heat-treating...So many I have met over the years (including professionals in the field of "outdoor" education) lack proper understanding and/or training in this area...My own students have often come back to me to state that they get told that methods like this are hazardous and risky...yet...those making those claims have virtually no "real" knowledge about wilderness living even though they work in the profession...This was a welcome video to see...
so maybe it would be better to do some tests of that water and provide solid scientific proof? I could use your videos at my English lessons. My students love ecology and saving our planet!
@@English_Lessons_Pre-Int_Interm Hi Larin...It has been tested...many times and in many different modalities...As a teacher myself, this is a great project to do in an Ecology/Biology class as I had in high school myself...and then went on to do in my own class. If interested this is something you could pursue with your own class...Even a simple flora/faun count of a sample and control under a micro scope can reveal a great deal and be fun for the class too...Good Luck!!!
I take novices and kids backpacking. I taught them to purify water but also taught them about my family drinking wild water, washing dishes with gravely stuff, and to take anything soiled away from water sources. I taught purifying for liability reasons but can’t help but teach the facts you’re sharing. Much appreciated.
@@sheffi01008631 I don't teach or Wilderness Guide as often as I once did, but I make sure to always inform clients/students that there is a "spectrum" of "safe water" when in a wilderness setting from the perspective of what is "safe for me" and what is "safe for them"...all the way to different purification modalities and standards...Your approach to forming the "liability reasons" is logical and pragmatic...One of the reasons I have enjoyed Clay's channel and his approach to things is having similar backgrounds in Wildlife Biology and his logical experiential approach while still embracing traditions when he learns them...This is a fantastic channel for experts and novices alike...
Thanks for posting this follow up, Clay. A lost casual hiker isn't likely to have water purification tabs, so this content was ideal for situations where someone must work from scratch. I've also heard that water exposed to direct sunlight eliminates pathogens, for example, a sealable clear baggie used to contain creek water--not sure about that one. Your home well is awesome brother!
UV light will kill pathogens but not if there’s a bunch of gunk for it to hide in. It’ll work well if the water is pretty clean
Yes, I'm gonna try uv filtering as well. Here on UA-cam Uni.
Right on the mark! I visited Africa some years ago and while climbing Mulanje I ran out of water and had no filtration with me. However, local experts informed me that since we would be above 5 thousand feet and climbing that it would be safe to drink water from the mountainside stream along our path up. I did so regularly and suffered no ill effects whatsoever.
We use to carry a bucket when hiking/camping with the bottom cut out of it just for the purpose of a liner for a coyote well, same idea you had with the wood slats lining the sidewalls of the well. Worked really well the few times we every used it.
You stole my idea from a point in the past! Jk. Glad to know that works before I wreck a bucket.
Thank you. A practical way. What type of bucket plz...
@SandhillCrane42 which type of bucket? Can you do a steal one too?
Better yet carry an intact bucket and only modify it if you need to. Would be handy for countless other things.
Thanks for posting. I remember reading about this years ago but I'd never seen it done. I believe this has been providiing potable water for thousands of years.
Yes, ancient primitive technology so important to learn if shtf and people flee to isolated places to survive.
It would be interesting to see the cedar bark one under a microscope, and see what it looks like "close up". In our super hygienic western lifestyle, it's arguable that we are conditioning our bodies to be less capable of living in the outdoors, and that lack of exposure to good microbes is actually hurting us. I wonder if this system, done very carefully and maintained well, would actually provide additional health benefits as opposed to chemically treated tap water.
Hmm, interesting thought!
It's already known as the cleanliness paradox... lots more Auto-Immune diseases in clean conditions. Although their presence wouldn't be 0, the number of those would be cut back. I can tell you however that in the end you will save more lives with clean tap water than any 'health benefits' you think you can get from drinking risky water.
@@clayhayeshunter It really is not. If you count the lives lost from drinking unclean water, I think you will see how nonsensical the statement is. Cost-benefit is not looking good on this one.
Very good observation . I heard of a study on gut floral where they observed the floral of westerners and compared it to tribal people I don't remember the exact numbers but the westerner gut floral was like 400 and the tribes had like 1200
@@voxna so what is the conclusion?
It remains the same ...cfr my comments above.
This guy is full of wonderful treasures and I still cannot believe that there's still people out there that actually live the way I do. TNX I love your movies just wish they were longer...lol
My grandfather had 2 wells. 1 for livestock the other for people. I loved that well with the large stones. The water was so cool and good. I don't know how he made it or how deep it was. I wish I knew all my parents and grandparents knew. They are all gone now. Now our city water has a notice of a small amount of chemical that if it was more we could be in really bad health.
Generally they use chlorine to kill or weaken any pathogens in the water. That way your digestive system can break down the weakened pathogens before they recover and can make you sick. Just so you know, chlorine is also volatile. Not in the dangerous way but in that it evaporates fairly fast, much faster than water. If you fill a large container with water and cover it with a cloth for 24 to 48 hours, almost all of the chlorine will have evaporated out and then you can cap it off and put it in the refrigerator and have cold and much better tasting water to drink than the water straight out of the tap. More work than an activated charcoal filter but also much cheaper and no maintenance and replacement filter cost.
Most all water treatment facilities do not filter out medications peed/pooped out from people.
Excellent presentation! This is very useful knowledge, for anyone who might be in an extended wilderness or survival situation.
Back in the day (late 1960s!) we used to rely on collecting water to drink while bushwalking, mostly in mountain areas here in Australia. With a bit of common sense (eg avoiding agricultural run-off & cow pasture) we never had any issues.
Then in 1981 I lived for 6 months in India, and for one of those months I lived in a hut with an earth floor in the Himalayan foothills (a small town called Manali). There was a beautiful, pristine-looking stream, and a mountain spring where I collected water in a bucket. Unfortunately, even back then & even in rural India I learned the hard way that what appears to be a pristine spring might not be quite so pristine, and in India, no matter how high up you go, there is always someone living upstream of you.
I got giardia, my 3-year-old son got amoebic dysentery, and now we have giardia endemic in Australia too, sadly.
Giardia is not nice, and amoeba is worse, and neither resolve on their own, so these days I have a Survivor Filter (that kept me disease-free drinking tap water in Bali for 6 weeks - no mean feat!)
But it's good to have knowledge of how to improve your chances of getting safe drinking water in an emergency or wilderness situation... thank you!
Yes, that was my concern. Just because the water *looks* clean doesn’t mean it *is* clean.
I have drank water out of a creek or stream just about all my life and it never hurt me,our tap water here in the southern California desert sucks man , I don't drink it, cool video brother
Thank you VERY much for making this video. We have everything on our homestead we need (60 acres in isolation) but in a real bug out scenario this is excellent. Again, thank you for taking the time and effort in doing this, it is very much appreciated. May God bless and watch over you and yours. Thanks
Glad you mentioned at the end to cover the hole to prevent mice feces contamination. Foxes also have a habit of pissing on everything including pans for water and food. I put some watermelon rinds out for opossums and watched on a trail cam a fox pissing all over them.
Dog urine is actually beneficial to roses. I wonder what the benefit of that is in nature.
i like how you point out what society tries to tell you about water vs what people have done for thousands of years. very informative
I'm from the mountains of eastern Kentucky. I've drank water from those mountains a lot of my life. I've never had any issues from it. Actually some of the best tasting water I've ever had. Good content brother.
Good stuff
This is what I wait for every Thursday. Thanks for the invaluable lesson Clay.👍
That’s a scam.
Alaskan here, been drinking from wild creeks my whole life with no problem. This is good info for less pristine water. Thanks for this information.
No problem
My grandfather helped building wells back in the days.
They laid bricks on the outside and put a layer of gravel on the bottom.
I think gravel might help your "project" well as well.
One of the best surviving/flourishing videos!
1. or 2., depending on location in importance for survival is shelter/water.
3. food
Simple is best.
Thanks for showing this I used to think when watching films and they were dieing of thirst why could you not get water from the tree bark ..I know I'm only talking about films lol but this used to bug the life outta me.. now you prove my survival skills...lol ..
Excellent presentation and instruction. Quite likely, you may save some lives with this, in the coming storm. Thank you, sir.
Interesting, I learnt that technique for shallow well digging as a kid in the 80's, we used birch bark for the casing/liner. Also the first drawing of water looks like the city water in my hometown here in England 🤔 I use a countertop filter at home, but at a few places I use for relaxing I just boil the ground water.
Where did you get the bitch bark plz
I would definitely set back one to two meters from the water edge.
I'm more worried about pollution in surface and shallow ground water then other issues. So for me filtration is usually something I do weather I have to or not.
I have drank straight from the creek since I was a kid. Dad taught us when we went hiking, glad you are posting this.
Same thing I have been saying for years. It's how I grew up years back. Thank you for the effort in this video. Nice to know others know how to
Very interesting and good info. I noticed that water from 1st dip in 1st well changed color... alot by the next day. I also noticed the 2nd well look to be further and higher up from the creek than the 1st well. That may have affected the water clarity
That coyote well is pretty cool and lining it is an excellent upgrade. Thanks.
Nate
When I was a kid in the '70s they taught us in school that as long as the water was running quickly the protozoa and amoeba that could make us sick could not propagate and was safe. A lesson I believed for the most part but imagined how it could easily be a dangerous idea.
At age 11 after deliberating this idea as I came upon a swift moving stream in the foothills of South Carolina where I often hiked, I chose to continue on without drinking even though I was quite thirsty at that point.
Not 20 yards upstream I came upon a deep pool in the stream that was absolutely putrified by the dead deer carcass that lay rotting in its center.
Hmmmmm.......
I continued on to a moss covered granite rock escarpment where water seeped from hundreds of feet above and drank my fill as usual.
Wth? I thought. Water may be moving quickly but what does it matter if the source of that agitated and oxygenated water is contaminated?
That was my first real life lesson that taught me that the education system was broken.
Sometimes it's best to use our God given common sense.
Anything you can do to filter and decontaminate a water source is time well spent. Or, get it from the source, the ground, after it has slowly percolated through the Earth's strata. The more the better.
my understanding is about 6 feet of water falling down rocks oxygenates out all bugs. however i always go upstream if possible as you did also look above any spring for higher sources
@@anthonydewitt7674 - and if at the top of that waterfall is a pool with dead animals?
Or a cave full of bats....and their droppings?
@@holdernewtshesrearin5471
Exactly.
It's impossible to know what's going on "higher up" and shit, as they say, *does* roll downhill.
Notes:
"Coyote Well"
1.5 to 2 feet away from creek
His well was around 16 inches deep. (The top of your well water will get to the level of the top of the creek water beside you.)
Avoid large roots.
- I couldn't remember all that by the end of the video, so listed it.
Thank you for all this information!!!
Great video! IF someone is still concerned about water purity, at least dig the well, THEN use a filter for it. This will preserve your filter longer. You can also dig a well at higher elevations if it scares you to drink it straight from the creek/river. I drink water straight from rivers and creeks in Utah often. LOVE IT! ITS SO HEALTHY!
I am very glad I clicked on this video!
Lining the bottom of the well with stones or gravel, would produce even cleaner water!
Water is life. This video is life saving information! Great work my friend! 👏👏🔥
This.
Most of the turbidity will be from the bottom getting slightly disturbed when you're dipping. A layer of clean stones will prevent that.
I was wondering if lining with slate, stone, etc would work as well
Great demo! Especially impressed with the cedar bark lined well.
My parent's Prarie farm has a small river that runs through it, 12 -20 ft wide 2 -5 ft deep, about 10 miles from the starting tributaries. The area is about 3/4 grain farms and 1/4 cattle.lots of wildlife around the river including beaver. I have drank staight from the river occasionally with no regrets. That coyote well would work great, and i look forward to trying it!
Great video! I was raised on well water and we never thought anything about it. I was 10 years old when we went to city water...Im 58 now...and I had relatives had wells also. Makes a lot of sense the content of your video! Thanks...Wasn't Jesus going for water from a well when he met the woman at the well....hmmm .Gods water filtration system already designed perfectly "well"! Great job!
if you put charcoal in bottom of the bark flitter the water will fill up over the charcoal giving you an active filter as well. this works great when you dig it a bit further back from the water source and deeper (to add room for the charcoal)
This Is just extremely educational.
Hi Clay, very interesting presentation from anyone's point of view and I can't wait to share the video presentation and the Coyote well idea with my daughterin-law who is a horticulturist and I'm sure that she - like me - will want to try this filtering method on my dam water at my camping bush block of 2 acres that supposedly cannot be built on due to council building regulations that will not allow a dwelling to be put on it because a septic tank could contaminate the water [ which of course is a fair enough assumption] and although the camping block is not in a known flood plain area according to the council it is subjected to flooding half the block if the rains in the area are excessive or go for too long as runoff from adjacent properties and even the road that slopes down to this natural dam pooling area on my block will theoretically never run dry and thus although there is no creek or river close by - will always have water in it - that now can be filtered cheaply and efficiently with a permanent coyote well [ or many such wells around this dam - which has never been dug out by machines]
I already had a workaround plan for being able to eventually build on the block - and that was to actually have the dam dug deeper [ by front end loader] to take even more runoff from adjacent properties and the road which may or may not stop the block from flooding halfway to where my proposed - but probably still refused or denied building would be situated by asking for a permit to have a bio-toilet or composting toilet system installed [ that don't use fresh water wastefully and are completely eco-friendly and use bacteria to break down waste material that can then be used for fertilizer on the garden in any dwelling I might build.
Now, as to How I would make permanent Coyote well[s] is to dig the pit/hole big enough to accommodate some supporting red gum palings in the rough shape of a bucket/barrel nd do as you have done with the bark.
I've no idea what flavour might ensue from the redgum in-ground red-gum but bottomless barrel [ that I will now test out ] but Red gum posts I already recycle through my local Fencing contractor who is constantly getting me more of them and stacking them for me in a pile at his house - since I asked him if I could have them instead of them being wastefully deposited in landfills at the local tip or recycling centre. I also have ample supplies of Hardwood fence palings that I burn as heating and could possibly try some of those but they are usually very old and partly decayed whereas the red- gum is as good as new from the ground up and can be repurposed as I have done for other foundational work and new but shorter fences to about 4 feet high.
I have been using the 18 inches that has been in the ground for many years [ that I saw off of these fence posts] for fueling my wood burning heater and keeping me warm in winter for several years now and have accumulated what amounts to a small lumber yard in my present semi-rural/suburban property [ 1/4 acre town block] in a country town approximately 1 hrs drive west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
So you can rest assured that there will now be some Coyote wells in Australia too! As I can't wait to try one out at the bush block about 110Ks from my present location - but the 'bush block' that currently has just an 18X12 shed of single garage size and a stripped out but lined caravan -[ as also not allowed to cook on the block in bushfire season in summertime] approximately 6 feet apart from the shed but aligned to it so that a deck can be built in between almost entirely from Red Gum posts cut down Lengthways to make 3-4 feet lengths of decking approximately 1 1 /2 inches thick [allowing for the saw-cut into 3-4 inches depth] of fence posts that are 5 inches wide and will be what would be used for the red-gum inground Coyote bottomless barrels.
I also have hardwood fence posts that might provide a different flavour. 👍 🤨😉
But in our case the new Coyote wells might just get renamed, 'Dingo wells' - by yours truly. 😉🙃
This is probably the best filtering scenario one can find. Clay(the soil particle) has the smallest pore size of any natural substrate. If that creek bank was sand it would still be clear but probably higher concentration of the diarrhea bugs 🙂
Clay does make water safe to drink.
sand is recommended filtration system for third world countries by WTO. They have a paper with particle size and everything. Actually it's not the finest sand that's recommended.
I'd fill this pit with sand and charcoal and dug a second hole into it - that would do tricks. The next thing I'd do is letting it sit and sediment on the Sun. In the evening or in couple of days there would be a layer at the bottom and UV rays from the sun should kill the rest of floating microbes
@@StrategicSelfRelianceDefense I see what you did there. 😁
This is a great teaching video Clay. I just finished watching season 8 of Alone and wanted to congratulate you on your well earned victory. That is what led me to your channel here. You really impressed me with your survival skills, mental toughness and determination to be the last one to leave Chilko Lake. Thanks for the lessons and the inspiration. You have a new subscriber. 🙏
Thanks 🙏
That’s a scam.
@@donalddicorcia2433 report them it is becoming a scourge and yt aren't doing much
I watched this to learn the coyote well, but to see the lined well was such a bonus. I really appreciate this vid, this is the kind of tutorial that everyone needs.
Thank you SIR for the extra water knowledge .
My pleasure
Great video, haven't seen one of these types of wells since I was a kid. By law every city, and town has to do test every few years on water quality. And if you go to the city hall clerks office, and ask for the results of the test, they're legally obligated to give you a copy of the results for free. And in some places once you've read the results of said tests, you'd be less afraid of drinking the water straight from the creek in this video than your city's water. I pretty sure people in Flint Michigan would rather drink the creek water.
I believe it
Great content! Solid presentation 💯
One point: in the beginning you say it’s dangerous to drink from a stream when when there’s seepage from septic system, and then talk about the water “seeping” into your little well. Might help to include an explanation as to why the pathogens that seep into the creek won’t seep into your well.
Anyhow, excellent tip, I’d be happy to drink that water!
Because the water from this little well comes from the water t as ble under ground, not creek water which may be contaminated. The soil acts like a filter. People also pick grasses and lay at the bottom of the hole to filter out dirt as it seeps to the top. You're suppose to make sure you dig it at least a foot or two from the creek edge.
Two stories. One, while riding dirt bikes up an old mining trail (in Alaska) we came across a beautiful mountain stream. Hiking upstream to the waterfall that was the source of the stream, we found the pool at the bottom of the falls in a small box canyon, which still had quite a bit of snow left from winter, which was covered with sheep poop. And to think I almost took a big swig of the clear, cold water. Two, while hiking a small mountain, I drank from clear little trickle coming out of the moss near the top of the rounded summit. Apparently it was fed by an underground spring. I got beaver fever from that fresh, clear great tasting water. I drunk from countless streams before and after, with no problems. I guess you just never know.
That's the problem you never know what's up stream or has been In the up stream ether chemical or animal
True, my grandfather lived in the mountains of Vermont and said nt to drink from the creek bc a dead deer was in it upstream. You never know!
Yikes
Animals and fish still drop their #2's in the water sources. I almost drank from a "natural spring" I came across in the mountains and turns out the spring was just a crack in the rock face that brackish water seeped into and emerged at the base of the Cliff. As thirsty as you might be and innocent as the water source might look you always have to check first for safety.
Same expirience. One very hot summer day In 2018, when hiking in Altai I found a stream about 200m or so below the summit. I had drinkable water, but was tempted to at least wash my face. Just to be sure went upstream and only 50m away found a swarm of flies around dead badger - poor fella tried to reach water below big rocks which shifted under his weight and trap his head.
On the other hand in the forest at the mountain foot were places where geologists took core samples - steel tubes left sticking out of the ground. Some of them pierced underground waterveins and become artificial springs - those were considered safe by locals.
Yep tap water even in uk , some have had problems,
Hi from hull uk
That's really great. I am in Australia so would have to improvise on bark type. Good info on the pest animals too. Excellent to know! Thankyou.
Awesome stuff. Is there a good rule of thumb for how far from the creek's edge you should dig? I'm assuming that if it's too far, it may not fill as well, and if it's too close it may not filter as well, is that right?
If the banks weren’t so steep I’d have moved a little farther. If it’s gravely soils or coarse sand, if recall moving a lot farther. Fine sand works well as a filter though so probably just a few feet in that case.
Seems to me I had heard 3 feet is a good distance. And consider also, if one were going to utilize the 'well' for any length of time, an angled well might help any mice or other small creatures who might fall into the well a way to get out instead of dying and thereby contaminating the well. Charcoal in the well might help the taste.
@@clayhayeshunter clay Haynes someone contacted me saying it was you that my comment won a Matthews compound bow and wanted $60 for shipping and handling. I have pictures of the whole conversation but when I asked him to verify it was you by taking a picture of your driver's license with a spoon over the address and send it within 2 minutes they never sent the picture. So someone is using your channel to rip people off. If you would like the pictures I will send them to you. Would you like for me to go to the police department to let them know what's going on.?
That’s a scam. Ignore that a-hole.
@@justuschmiii3173 you can report that channel through UA-cam. Might have to use the desktop site, but if you go to their channel you can report and then state it's for impersonation.
If you could add a couple inches of sand or gravel on the bottom, it would come out even cleaner
I always heard of these referred to as Gypsie wells. I've always wondered why it isn't standard practice on any of those survival shows to dig them. Even if you still want to boil it first, it's far better to get your water from one of these.
The one time they tried it on Naked & Afraid, they did it on the beach, nowhere near a water source. They got like 1" of scuzzy water.
In the well you lined, why not put small pebbles on the bottom to keep mud from coming up?
Let’s say I wanted to build my own well for long term use. So dig deeper, give it a sealable cover, give it a nice enterior wall(what material just brick and mortar?), and then should I line the bottom? I feel like a layer of pebbles or gravel at the bottom would help keep even more silt out! Is there any way you can tell if a well has become contaminated? What if I want to build my own sceptic system on my property could that interfere? Great video thanks to anyone who replies to this
I am a water expert, as I work with Reverse Osmosis plants (water desalination) .
You are indeed correct in your assessment of the situations regarding tap water, it is just filtered or in some cases chemically treated.
If society went back to using predominantly wells to get water, it would be wholly better for the environment.
Bottled water is also a massive con! Usually much more parts per million than filtered or tap water.
Like you said, safest way is to boil, bar none.
Great vid, great advice.
More parts per million of what
I think it is important to note that this method shouldn't be used in soft river bottoms where the river channel constantly moves from one point to another. It is best to use it on rising banks, like the one shown in this video. If you are forced to use this method on mud flats, or sand bars, it is imperative that you boil the water afterwards, or use iodine to disinfect the water. I would, also, still recommend disinfecting the water that was produced in this video, or running it through a high-end filtering device with high filtration capabilities. In this instance the pre-filtration that occurs in the coyote hole will cause your actual filter last a very long time.
Will have to try making the lined version here. We're in clay, which stays in suspension no matter what. It'd be interesting to see if the bark lining is capable of filtering out the clay while still allowing water through.
We prefer "wild water" over bottled any day. Some people just can't drink it, though. Like, we had a city boy stay with us at our old house for awhile, and he got sick every time he drank our tap (well) water. I guess there was something in it that rural folks are just simply immune to, lol 😆
super common in travel to get sick from tap water, whether thats cause of climate change or region change - simply from the bioflora in that water! slow introduction with bottled water is your best bet, and after a week or two youre good.
@@pemo2676this.
Excellent video. As a kid I was taught this and have never gotten sick from it. In fact, the majority of the time it tasted better than tap water
Wow bravo thank you for sharing your Knowledge
Thanks for this video Clay. Great knowledge to have... I do have one question, what about chemical containments like fuel, fertlizer, oils or Algae bloom that we tend to have here in Florida. Will the soil filter that out?
Depends on the contaminants. Things like nitrogen are soluble and can travel a long way in ground water. Most harmful pathogens filter out pretty quick. I’ve done this in the southeast but I was out in the woods away from the subdivisions and ag fields.
@@clayhayeshunter Thanks for your reply Clay. I guess the best thing to do is spend more time away from civilization 😎
Many industrial contaminates are perfectly capable of infiltrating the water table. Here in upstate NY, the Village of Endicott has been dealing with an IBM "spill" (likely there are other industrial contributors as well) that happened in the 1970's.
You can also get naturally occurring metals & the like in groundwater. Obviously it varies from location to location.
The algae is an interesting one. I have a hard time picturing algae surviving in ground water due to its reliance on the sun for its survival.
Great job. I like the fact that you said you would not give a 100% guarantee on safety. Would I drink it as a Water Plant Operator? Yes and no. Over drinking straight from the creek but, given time I would still boil it. We basically use this same technology to turn lake water into drinking water. As a side note chlorine tablets and the like will not kill Crypto. If I were forced to drink from a dirty source. I would filter and boil.
Add anti-diarrheal pills too just in case! Haha--but not so haha if ya get giardi. God forbid!
@@pjmnash yes, that is a concern for sure.
Ive been slugging down river, stream, spring, and lake water, completely untreated, for my entire life. I attribute it to being a good part native american. It does absolutely seem that our people can drink untreated without issues much more than normal folks can. Im outdoors for a good 3days a week and have nevwrvreally thought to filter anything. My buddies are always filtering, plugging filters, buying filters etc. I just reach down with my flask, fill it up, and slam it down. Never one issue. Also in minneaota so not as bad quality water as in the southern us.
Being native American has nothing to do with a water tolerance,and bad water quality in the south? That's a new one I've never heard
@@JayTX. and yes, as all water flows from north to south in the central united states, it does pick up more contaminants as it makes its way south. Look at any dnr fish consumption advisories from north to south. Poorer quality in south vs north in most all cases
It comes down good gut acid/bacteria
Minnesota is called the land of 10,000 lakes for a reason
@@eduffy4937 I wasn't referring to only rivers making their way to the ocean, our natural springs and streams are some of the cleanest I've came in contact with
Looks like a good tip for getting clean water to then boil and drink ;)
Amazing!! This will be a fun activity to do with our 9yr old ❤
Thanks a bunch!
Another idea. Dig the hole in the shape of a terracotta planter pot, slip the pot into the hole so it's snug in the hole (plug the small drain hole in the bottom of pot). The water should work it's way through the pot walls - very slowly - but you now have a ceramic filter. Use pots made in Italy bc they don't add chemicals to the terracotta. Use an upside down pot tray as the lid!
Ah yes cuz I always carry a terracotta pot when I'm hiking in the woods
People of the Nile use baked clay pots to filter water ? The clay has natural microscopic filter properties to remove harmful germs or parasites .
Very interesting and useful. Some years ago we lived in CT and had a dug well sourcing all our water. It was filtered naturally through rock layers and was clean and delicious. We had it tested periodically just to be sure. It was clear and free of all contaminants. Then, the open pasture land nearby was sold off for new homes, all with septic fields. Within 6 months our crystal clear safe water [and our long time neighbors too] was contaminated and unusable. Does no one care about the safety of our water supply? We couldn't get any satisfaction from town or county officials and had to get water [awful stuff but "safe" to drink with chlorine, etc added] tanked in. Eventually there were town water pipes , but our beautiful aquifer water was gone forever.
This is very upsetting to me. Wells like that should be protected against this sort of thing.
oh hell no. id be suing over that
grew up drinking river water and Creek water. if you know what to look for and how the Earth can naturally filter it your golden 🤙🏻🤙🏻 my favorite was always the natural soda water springs in northern California, there's literally probably a proper term for it but we grew up calling it soda water 🤣
Spring Water is the term I used with looking for a Bubbler Spring (not the proper term) on this one place my dad in summer would help work on restoring to natural. I refilled a water bottle with the water sometimes if it was hot out and I was helping.
We call it natural spring water here in Australia. I remember when I was young we would go camping and there was a pump, you could pump the bubbly water into water bottles or containers. It smelt like farts as we called it (it was the sulphur smell). We would add 'cordial' which is a big thing here in Australia, adds a flavour. It was fizzy softdrink (soda) for us. As far as I know, america and alot of other places don't have cordial. Closest think I think is probably Kool-Aid or some syrup blend like Ribena or something.
@@spaaggetii Strike a light!! You’re lucky you could even FIND any water in a creek! Down here in South Australia EVERY creek is stubbornly dry. We’ll never even be able to test out Clay’s suggestion here!
Louise, Australia 🦘
This is awesome! Gave me the idea to dig a hole in my yard for ground water. I put up my cedar fence and hit water in about a foot and a half. I live next to wetlands so I should be good. Thank you
Thanks for the tips. In the 60s i drank water out of the lake in Canada. Never got sick. I quit about 1978 because of acid rain. My grandmother would pull off the road in Indiana and we would drink out of a spring fed ditch. Also in the 60s
Fantastic! Id be interested to see some lab results between the 4 dips, that'd be really cool. Good video Clay!
That’s a scam.
My cousin sent a sample of our local tap water in to be tested, along with samples from her well, a creek and a mud hole in her driveway. The ONLY sample that tested "Not Fit for Human Consumption" was the tap water.
I've been on well water for 14yrs with no filtration what so ever never a problem and hike everywhere and drink natural water
Thank you for this, man. I'm 66, grew up on well water and this is great information.
Question: I really liked the lined w/cedar well concept but my concern would be whether anything can leech out of the bark that could be potentially harmful or add flavor to the water. Cedar is generally really pungent. Is that a possibility or do you prepare the bark panels somehow?
He mentioned that he could taste the cedar in the water.
If it's untreated bark it should be fine I would think.
@@sometimessnarky1642 Thank you! I must have missed that part of the video. Thank you for responding!
I think birch bark would be better. I think cedar might be mildly toxic. Birch is quite edible, used for making syrup. 😊
Yes, and also make sure the sapling springs are not toxic wood. Examples include yew, and oleander but there are many which could be a problem.
My Paw taught me how to dig a "beaver well" in my early teens. Idk that's what he called it lol but same thing. That bark liner is NEXT LEVEL!!! 🤘🤘🤘 Awesome video Clay thanks again
Thanks Clay, awesome experiment complete with comparisons....very insightful...now I know how to get to water in an emergency. Appreciate you and your time. Blessings
As a child, I drank and bathed in a surface well at my great grandparents farm. Didn't hurt me, my mom and anyone else in our family. Thanks for sharing your video.
In the 1970s while camping on a National Park in Arkansas I made orange juice using water from a "crystal clear" creek. The water was ice cold. Unfortunately, I and the people I was camping with got so sick we had to check into a motel for 3 days. It was constant throwing up and diarrhea. I personally do not want to do that again. Just because it is ice cold crystal water clear does not mean it is safe to drink. I think digging a hole near to the creek would have produced drinkable water, but I would currently hesitate because of what happened. I also have a dug well where all of my water comes from.
This makes complete sense, grateful to you for pondering, rediscovering what must once have been crucial common knowledge. Big thank you.
I like that your video is straightforward, no extra music, and you talk to the point. I've been searching for days to find a good channel and yours seems like. So i have subscribed.... Can you also show how to retrieve water from trees / plants for survival incase there's no water bodies around?
This is just so cool I appreciate you for sharing your knowledge!
Glad it was helpful!
even if you filter the water that natural way, i would still boil it and put it in a cool area for it to cool down, so it could be very refreshing to drink
I agree! I drank water from creeks in west PA as a kid without boiling many times.
This is great info, especially the cedar lined well, great to even use prior to boiling.......for extra decontamination.
Thank You so much!