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How does the Imperium keep it's forces supplied with water?

Is water mined from water rich worlds and shipped interstellerlly to troops in water-poor areas? Seems daunting logistically.

Would they make water? It's just hydrogen and oxygen. Has a cheap and effective means of producing it on battleships been found?

Is water an important strategic resource worth going to war over like promethium?

I think most planets try have ways of getting water...
Even Tallarn has moisture traps.
They could feasibly make it...
Probably not as valued as promethium...

Since we can separate water into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen molecules in real life, it's not outside the realm of possibility that the Mechanicus has learned how to do this in reverse, and combine hydrogen and oxygen into H2O.

Asteroids and comets have large amounts of water. Some planets have huge amounts of water too that could be shipped.

Combining H2 and O2 into water is very easy as well.


1) Fill balloon with H2 (assume balloon is in a breathable atmosphere)

2) Light Match

3) Watch the explosion

4) Collect and condense the water vapor.


Fuel cell technology (which we currently have) does the same thing, but instead of an explosion you get useful electricity as well.


Probably Spaceships have methods of recycling water. As long as no significant amount of water is lost to leaks or anything, the ships are large enough to have their own "water cycle" type of thing.


IG probably have ways of collecting and purifying local water either on a large scale at their base of operations, or on an individual scale with pumps, filters and chemicals. I would assume that a Catachan would be able to survive by just foraging for both food and water.

Cruise ships and warships (larger ones) often use desalination plants and take their water from the oceans nowadays.

I can see spacecraft reharvesting exhaled water vapour from the already recycled atmosphere (and other wastes), re-condensing it and storing it for reuse.

If a guard force can fight on a given planetary surface, then it will have some form of DiHydrogen Monoxide available somewhere.

Water is heavy, so expensive to send into space. Ships must have a recycling system for it and troops get what they can on the ground through filters, pumps, and canteens.

-cgmckenzie

But an army can't be supplied indefinitely from the fleet's recycling abilities. Law of conservation of mass and all that.

Yep, why I also added that any planet capable of supporting mon'keighboy life would have water available somewhere.

This is the main reason for so many human worlds. Resupply.

In Imperial Armour 3, the Elysians fought in Operation Comet for control of a water purification plant.

Yes. The water supply chain was so important and problematic that it ended up being a major factor in their defeat.

Well there are quite lot asteroids out there...
And Ice planets, so go figure...

If they were shipping it, it would only be inra-system movement.

Brother Coa wrote:Well there are quite lot asteroids out there...
And Ice planets, so go figure...

purplefood wrote:If they were shipping it, it would only be inra-system movement.

That would require some sort of ice/water mining ship. I don't see a Retribution, Gothic, or Sword doing that. Perhaps they have some sort of shuttles?
Also the most water rich planet in a system would almost always be the one they're invading. It's usually the one in the life zone.

Yeah probably...
They would have some kind of mining ship doing it.
Invading the planet that prvides water to the obviously water deprived target would be a great idea...

purplefood wrote:Yeah probably...
They would have some kind of mining ship doing it.
Invading the planet that prvides water to the obviously water deprived target would be a great idea...

Well, I mean that the planet you are deploying your thirsty army to is usually the one with the most water anyway. You can't rely on local resupply because it's a contested warzone. Doing so will result in a Taros like defeat. So besides troops and munitions an invasion force would also carry a massive amount of water with it too. Several months worth should do I would think.

So much like agri-worlds there's probably something like hydro-worlds. Planets who's main purpose is to supply water to the IoM's crusades. I think water is a strategic resource.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

purplefood wrote:Yeah probably...
They would have some kind of mining ship doing it.
Invading the planet that prvides water to the obviously water deprived target would be a great idea...

Well, I mean that the planet you are deploying your thirsty army to is usually the one with the most water anyway. You can't rely on local resupply because it's a contested warzone. Doing so will result in a Taros like defeat. So besides troops and munitions an invasion force would also carry a massive amount of water with it too. Several months worth should do I would think.

So much like agri-worlds there's probably something like hydro-worlds. Planets who's main purpose is to supply water to the IoM's crusades. I think water is a strategic resource.

I'd agree with oyu there but i would add in that a crusade or an army may be able to support itself using local resources.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Yes. The water supply chain was so important and problematic that it ended up being a major factor in their defeat.

In fact, I remember that they were getting their water supply from a super-heavy transporter, the Empress of Sveden.

When the ship was destroyed by the Tau, the imperials on Taros had to find new ways to get their hands on water, which is why they attacked this water purification plant.

Given that they went for a water plant I'd assume they have a ship dedicated to carrying water for "x" amount of troops.

Either that or they have technology on the vessels capable of producing water in some sci-fi way.

Not a subject of great concern to GW. Considering a plausible outcome of needing conventional water supplies, is you are defeated in almost every campaign when a water ship is attacked in orbit or when water convoys can't reach troops for a few days, weeks, etc.

Though logistical failures seem to account for a good amount of defeats in 40K. Pretty interesting topic really.

Water is heavy and expensive to ship. Most likely, they procure on site like us(US military). We carry small amounts with us but the vast majority is obtained in theatre.

Ships must have a hold for water during travel through warp and initial deployment, but once they are on the ground, the troops probably get it through seizure and capture.

Anything worth invading/defending must have a supply of water; the cost of getting it there is simply too vast to allow otherwise.

-cgmckenzie

Hive worlds probably have some light resupply too for the populace. Although their hyrological cycle has been destroyed by industry, it's also fixed by industry too. Vapour traps, filtration, urine recyclers etc. Minimal importing is probably required.

What about recycling urine? I believe they do such things in space. Why can't they do it in their new ships?
(No Bear Gyllis jokes, please...)

Perhaps interesting, but during the battle of Monte Cassino, the Axis and Allies fought over craters filled with water.
That there were rats, corpses and all sorts of nasty things in it didn't matter. They just needed something to drink.
I believe similar things can happen in 40k.

They do do it...
I wouldn't be surprised if they did drink from big puddles at some points.

loner wrote:What about recycling urine? I believe they do such things in space. Why can't they do it in their new ships?
(No Bear Gyllis jokes, please...).

Tryanid on Space hulk?
Better drink my own Peeess.

Well theoretically, energy can be converted directly to matter, so if they simply harvested solar energy from the sun they could convert that into water. But that said I'm sure that the Mechanicus would deem such technology heretical so...

Not if they found an STC for it they wouldn't...

In a lot of the pre heresy fluff, it says that Man's oceans were drained for use in the unification wars. This could imply that salt-water can be turned into drinkable water, and worlds like Earth with a huge amount of salt water could be drained and shipped to its troops

We know salt-water can be turned into drinking water...
We do that now.
The unification wars occured on Earth so i doubt the water went far...
I'd say most if not all forces get their water locally with some battlefields needing additional supllies due to terrain.

svendrex wrote:
Probably Spaceships have methods of recycling water. As long as no significant amount of water is lost to leaks or anything, the ships are large enough to have their own "water cycle" type of thing..

There's gotta be a Bear Grylls meme in there somewhere...

I assume that pretty much the first thing they invented in the very beginning of mankinds galactic expansion was a way to get a good supply of water in space, otherwise we are back to the old 17th century way of carrying barrels of it around with us, and we wouldn't have got very far at all

KamikazeCanuck wrote:But an army can't be supplied indefinitely from the fleet's recycling abilities. Law of conservation of mass and all that.

Law of conservation of mass says that it basically can. What goes in a person will eventually come out after all. Matter doesn't just disappear.