# rehydrating with one's own fluids
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehydrating-with-ones-own-fluids/211683
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 6, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehydrating-with-ones-own-fluids/211683 "2003-11-06T09:29:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@optimystique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/optimystique)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehydrating-with-ones-own-fluids/211683/1 "2003-11-06T09:29:21Z")
In times of utter desperation, it is possible to rehydrate oneself by consuming one’s own waste fluids? I read somewhere that urine is sterile, so can one drink urine (as a last resort) as a source of water?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehydrating-with-ones-own-fluids/211683/2 "2003-11-06T10:29:33Z")
Not without first distilling it.
Urine is a liquid containing stuff your body is trying to get rid of; salts, acids and the like - when you are dehydrated, the concentration is likely to be significantly higher and so, by drinking it, you add the waste products back into your system and **increase** your need for water to flush them out.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehydrating-with-ones-own-fluids/211683/3 "2003-11-06T10:41:29Z")
So you need to make a solar still like Kevin Costner has in _Waterworld_ 🙂
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### Author:  [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehydrating-with-ones-own-fluids/211683/4 "2003-11-06T12:25:17Z")
Effectively it is the same as drinking sea water. It doesn’t solve your dehydration problem, just makes it worse.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehydrating-with-ones-own-fluids/211683/5 "2003-11-06T13:08:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by r\_k \*
> \*\*So you need to make a solar still like Kevin Costner has in _Waterworld_ 🙂 \*\*
Yes, but in many cases there are simpler methods of getting fresh water; if you have a clean plastic bag, you can just tie it around the leafy end of a tree branch and condense/catch the water evaporating from it - no need to muck about with urine.