DruidAgaric

For the sake of realism and manageability of having both hunger and thirst, I think starvation could take days or weeks, perhaps losing health and strength along the way (or fat reserves?). And thirst over days. It might be a good idea to have different types of water based on water body size, lakes are safer and cleaner than ponds. (Rivers and springs later in development) If you drink untreated water you get a health penalty. The dirtier the water the greater the penalty. Pond water for example could save your life, but have serious consequences. Some ideas for penalties could be health and hunger bar reduction. If you drink lake water you get a small penalty, pond water a large penalty. If you drink more before the penalty times out it stacks and can kill you if you're health bar reduces to zero possible points. This is pretty realistic, I have drank Lake water in the woods a couple times after running out of water on the trail, I got hydrated but the next day was low energy and the runs. (Low health and low food bar) Another real life solution to slghtly dirty water is using moss as soak purifier and filter. Many mosses contain iodine and can kill pathogens. Still a container could be tough, maybe wooden cups to start with. (You can actually boil water in wood) Spring water could be a natural clean water source as you can drink spring water in real life. You can also eat snow and ice, but that can be calorie intensive (warning up the frozen water internally) and dangerous in cold weather. This could at least get you to clay boiling, at which point clean water would be easily available.