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Water that is safe to drink.
In-game description

Potable Water is purified water that is safe to drink in The Long Dark.


Consuming Unsafe Water restores Thirst, and unlike Unsafe Water, Potable Water has been sterilized and carries no risk of infection with Dysentery, which is a serious and fatal disease if untreated.

Bottles of Potable Water can be found indoors, in vehicles, harvested from Toilets, Industrial Toilets, a Basin, or produced from boiling Unsafe water at a fire/sterilizing it with Water Purification Tablets.

Unsafe water can be created by melting snow at an active fire's Cooking Spot, and takes 20 minutes to melt one liter (0.26 gal). Gathering snow is done automatically, though the player must supply a Recycled Can or Cooking Pot to contain the snow as it melts into water.

  • Water is relatively heavy at 1 kg/L and can quickly overburden the player in large quantities.
  • Water always remains at 100% condition and does not decay.
  • Water left outside will not freeze, or become unsafe once sterilized.
  • If left on an active fire, 0.5L of purified water will boil away after 30 minutes (in-game). The more water in the container, the longer it takes to boil away.
  • Dehydration deals 2% condition loss per hour if not sated.

For the effects of drinking water on thirst reduction, see Thirst.

Purification[]

Unsafe water can be turned into Potable Water through boiling or purifying:

  • Boiling 1L of Unsafe Water requires 20 minutes at an active fire's Cooking Spot.
  • Purification Tablets can be consumed to convert up to 1L of Unsafe Water into an equivalent amount of Potable Water. They can be found in the "Medical" tab of the Inventory, and then selecting "Use" while carrying them and the Unsafe Water. This sterilization process takes 1 minute (in-game). Alternatively, select "Purify Water" while in the fire menu. Note that a fire/Cooking Spot is not actually required to use purification tablets.

Appearance[]

Water requires no container to carry, and despite displaying as a jug in the inventory, will appear as a water bottle when dropped.

  • Quantities up to 0.50L will appear as a small plastic bottle.
  • Quantities between 0.5L and 1.0L will appear as a large bottle.
  • Quantities in excess of 1.0L will be divided into multiple 1.0L bottles, potentially with a smaller bottle as the remainder.

Note: Unsafe and Potable water bottles are identical in appearance, and similar in one's inventory. Take care when dropping bottles of Unsafe Water that they are not close to bottles of Potable Water, to prevent accidental drinkage.

Products[]

Trivia[]

  • Water (potable), doesn't give a Warming Up feat when boiled and immediately consumed. This is likely due to in-game balance reasons, as it would take hours for the water to cool down to a state where it can be consumed and even more to no longer be warm. It would also make acquiring the Warming Up feat too easy.
  • Water taken from Toilets always yields Potable Water and never Unsafe Water; this would imply the water is being drawn from a toilet's reservoir tank which is used to flush waste and not the bowl where waste arrives. However, not all toilets in The Long Dark have such tanks, such as Industrial Toilets, which can provide unsafe water.
  • Despite teas and coffee being heatable at fires to grant Warming Up, bottles of water (potable or unsafe) cannot.
  • Water is non-renewable in the challenge "Escape the Darkwalker" and custom sandbox with the 'endless night' option enabled. This is because matches are finite and non-renewable, and the magnifying lens is unusable at night.
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