If there is vegetation then there is water somewhere.
Lots of vegetation = lots of water
It really depends on where this water is though, it may be from rain, dew or a ground source or all 3.
Transpiration can be effective, but a lot depends on the time of year, wind etc.
If you had enough ploy bags and time though you should be able to get enough water from this method to survive for 9 days.
In winter you'd need a fair amount of poly bags though.
There is also urine.
Although it's been on a few "shows" recently i would not recommend anyone to rink their own urine straight.
You could make a still though and collect the evaporated fluid and drink that, you'd need wood and a few containers to boil the urine and collect the evaporated fluid mind.
If it was raining often or had rained recently then i'd concentrate my efforts on collecting water from natural containers, puddles etc.
If it hadn't rained and there was plenty of vegetation then i'd search for a couple of hard wood sticks and dig a hole in the lowest bit of land i could find.
In my experience though the best thing to do is just track the wildlife in the area.
Nearly all will need some water source, and all will leave some tracks or another, so you'd need to spend a bit of time sitting and watching where the birds are flying to/from, if there are any signs of larger mammals (Pigs, Deer etc) and follow the tracks.
This is win win as if they do draw you to water you also now have a place to concentrate on getting a food source as well.
As for sterilising water, if you have a container and fire making tools/material then it is well worth the time and effort to ensure clean water.
Having the trots is really the least of your worries, as there are some VERY nasty parasites and bacteria living in water, some will not show up for weeks or months, others within hours.
Some are easily cured others have no known cure and even if you make it out you still have little chance of surviving it.
It'd really have to be a last min absolutely no chance of boiling it emergency for me to drink non treated water.
I'd also need to have a large supply as if i do get the trots i'd need a LOT more fluid than before.
As Shewie says though it's easy to sit here and spout the theories.
In practice it's often a lot different, especially when you consider that folks that do get into difficulties very rarely believe they'll not be rescued quickly enough not to bother making longer term arrangements.
For some they feel the simple act of making preparations for a overnight, or longer stay means they've admitted there is a problem and they have inevitably made a mistake.
It really does take a strong will and determination to make the decision to set up for the night if that is not what you intended.
Even then if there is more in a group then others will want to keep on walking, searching and trying rather than make camp for the night.
Cheers
Mark
