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A Holistic Approach to Packing a 72-Hour Bug Out Bag- Part 2, by C.T.
Water. Though you may die after three days without water, that is most likely in ideal conditions with low exertion. If you have ever gone hiking before, you know that after an hour or so you are pretty parched already, and by the end of a single day you will be pretty much functionally depleted of water and in desperate need of rehydration. Especially if your bug out happens to be in the summer or a very hot time of year, water is going to be the most important element you need to keep going effectively.
This is where knowing your bug out route is essential. If there are going to be places you could refill from natural sources, you don’t need to carry enough water to get you all the way from Point A to Point B. If you have a short (under three day) bug out route that crosses or follows rivers or free standing water, carrying a lightweight water filter should meet most of your needs. If you are planning on traveling with a larger group and will need to supply water to multiple people, it may make sense to carry a higher output water filter designed for hiking, such as the Katadyn Hiker Pro. Depending on your length of trip and general murkiness of the water in your area, you may want to pack a spare filter and a few coffee filters that you can place over the front end tubing (and use a rubber band to secure it) that goes in the water source to minimize the amount of work your internal filter needs to do. If you want to go really light weight or have redundancy in your water purification options (a very good idea), using iodine tablets is probably your best bet.
Water is absolutely essential to survival and keeping yourself in peak condition. If you will not be able to refill as you go, you need to pack all of the water you need to get to your destination. This is where understanding the amount of weight you can carry is essential. The amount of water you will need is dependent on your physical condition and the climate and terrain you will be covering. A safe bet is 0.5 liters per mile you need to travel. Since water weighs about 2.2 lbs per liter, you can see how this can add up quickly.
A 10 mile route will require 11 lbs of water. If you can only comfortably carry a total of 30 lbs, you need to plan on carrying 1/3 of that weight in water! Even longer routes will require more. This is why, if possible, you should plan a route that has access to water refill points so you don’t need to carry everything all at once.
How much water should you carry if you plan on refilling? A safe recommendation is to have at least four to six liters of water on you at all times. Try to fill up at all available water sources.
Source: https://survivalblog.com/a-holistic-approach-to-packing-a-72-hour-bug-out-bag-part-2-by-c-t/
