Ideally, you have a desalinization kit in your survival kit, but if not, there are other, more cumbersome and time consuming ways to desalinize your water.

Either of these methods would work, but make sure you follow the instructions completely and give yourself a lot of time to get the job done correctly!

Evaporation Distillation

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

1.    Place the cup in the pot.
2.    Add salt water to the pot, making sure that it doesn’t get in the cup. Don’t fill it so high that you run the risk of the water boiling into the cup.
3.    Turn the lid upside down and place it on the pot. Make sure that your cup is underneath the lowest point of the lid and that the lid seals well. Otherwise, you’ll lose most of your steam before it drips into the cup as fresh water.
4.    Turn the heat up under the pot so that the water boils gently. You don’t want it to boil so hard that it splashes salt water into the glass or upsets the glass.
5.    As the water boils, it will turn to steam, which will rise to the lid and run down the lid into the cup, leaving salt and other impurities in the bottom of the pan.

Hint: You can perform this method for turning salt water into drinking water using solar heat, too. It will take several hours so be sure that you have plenty of time and sunlight. Just put the pan out in the morning so that it has all day to evaporate. If you use a round, see-through glass bottle or jug, the process will be much quicker because the glass will act as a prism, heating the water faster.

Evaporation Distillation

This method for turning salt water into drinking water allows you to distill a bit more water though you’ll still be using quite a bit of energy. It operates on basically the same theory as an alcohol still. You’ll also need a heat-resistant glass or metal bottle, a cork or rubber seal for the bottle, a few of feet of tubing and a catch-basin.

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

Having fresh, clean water is a critical need for any person, let alone a survivalist facing a bug-out or survifval situation.

If your only option for drinking water is saltwater,  you much figure out a way to extract the salt from the water; not doing so and drinking it can lead to dehydration, kidney failure and even death.

To see other tips on how to desalinize water, visit Bio Prepper.