Survival Skills: Dig a "Gypsy" Well

Digging your own well can be a life-saving method of sourcing your own water, and the well itself can even be a means for crude filtration. You can dig a gypsy well to clarify muddy or stagnant surface water. This technique doesn't filter out all contaminants, but it can filter larger particles from the water. This rough form of filtration can allow other methods of disinfection (such as chemicals) to work more efficiently.

Step 1

To make the well, dig a hole about a foot (0.3 m) away from the edge of the questionable water source. Dig the hole about 1-foot (0.3 m) down and at least that wide across to make the well's volume worth the trouble. This well can also be dug in a dry creek beds, allowing any subsurface water to collect in the hole for emergencies.

Step 2

Wait. The hole will fill with water as the fluid seeps through the soil. Allow the water to sit for a few hours or overnight to clear out some of the mud and particles. This type of well works best in sand, silt or loam soils; substances such as mud and clay don't percolate the water very effectively.

Step 3

Collect and disinfect the water using the best method you have available. You can boil the water for 10 minutes, treat it with chemicals, or even run it through a proper filter if it is not too muddy. And if you had to, you could try drinking this water directly in the instance that you could not get a fire going to boil the water and had no other disinfection methods. Water filtered through the

soil is better than water with no filtration at all.