The mention of “survival equipment” tends to introduce thoughts of major disasters and conditions that call-for first-aid supplies. Yet survival equipment can and should contain far more than band-aides and bottled water. The well-equipped “survivor” has access to a way to stave-off further problems. The well-equipped survivor has a way to test the air and water for possible contaminants.

A number of different contaminants can leech into any water supply. Therefore, one’s survival equipment should include a test kit that can pick-up each of those contaminants. Still, the survivor must realize that no test kit can detect all of the possible contaminants instantaneously.

When survivors rely on survival equipment to test the available water supply, they expect that that equipment has the ability to detect and/or measure bacteria, lead, chlorine, pesticides, water hardness, water pH and the presence or nitrates or nitrites. Some tests, like the ones for chlorine, water hardness and water pH, normally deliver results within seconds of when the test has been completed. A test for nitrates and nitrites would provide its important information within one minute after completion of the test procedures.

The tests for pesticides and for lead demand more patience from the user of the survival equipment. At the completion of those two tests, one must expect to wait a full ten minutes for the test results. Unfortunately, one of the most important tests, the one for bacteria, requires a 48 hour wait for the test results. The survival equipment lacks a way to incubate the test sample in warmer conditions, thus denying the test-taker of a way to speed delivery of the test results.

Of course the user of any survival equipment would not want to complete a single test, such as the one for bacteria, and then sit back, just waiting for the results. The user of such equipment would want to examine the air as well as the water. Most tests of air samples focus on the detection of carbon monoxide.

During the complete and total combustion of a fuel, the primary by-products are heat, carbon dioxide and water. However, if that combustion is incomplete, as could be the case during a disaster, then that generally causes the release into the air of carbon monoxide. At a certain level, the presence of carbon monoxide in the air can inflict great harm on those who must breathe that air.

Testing for carbon monoxide needs to focus on those areas where fuel has undergone a certain degree of combustion. Testing for carbon monoxide should entail the sampling of air in the kitchen, the garage and the area around the fireplace. A test for carbon monoxide should also involve the sampling of air in the region of the furnace and the water heater.

Survival equipment contains test kits for a very important reason. The kits aid the detection of chemicals that could possibly diminish a person’s chances of survival.