Urine Tests

[Bazile]

This might sound like an unusual question .

If you accidentally got water in a urine sample , taken for tests - would the water affect the test results of what the urine sample is being tested for ?

[yogi-bear]

Hi and Happy New Year, Bazile

Depends just how much water got in the tube, a tiny drop probably no, but quite a bit... yes, would imagine so, as surely it dilutes the urine.

[Mamyalynne]

Far easier to do another sample, then you are sure of a more reliable result.

ps

Diluting with water doesn't fool a drugs test either.

[Peter Pedant]

yes and you should provide another sample

[Buenchico]

Getting water in a urine sample won't affect the actual detection of the presence of a drug (or whatever) but it will obviously affect the concentration of that substance.

For example, someone who has 120 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of urine (above the legal limit of 107 mg in England, Wales & NI), but who manages to dilute their urine sample with an equal quantity of water, will appear to only have 60 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of (diluted) urine.

When we were being taking urine tests while working on the railways, the tester would spend ages securely taping down the lids of all the WCs and taping up all of the washbasins (as well as taping all the windows shut, so that nobody could pass anything in or out) before instructing us to go into the loo to produce a sample. If they'd not done so, they'd have had no way of knowing whether the sample had been diluted or not.

[Buenchico]

PS: The limit of 107 mg, which I've quoted above, obviously applies to driving. The limit for working at a railway station is just 40 mg, so it was necessary to avoid drinking any alcohol at all on an evening before an early morning shift.

[Sqad]

No.
Only the specific gravity which is of little value anyway.

[Bazile]

thanks all

The urine sample was to test to see if there was any blood in urine