If you've ever been part of a drug test, you've probably heard that drinking too much water can lead to a diluted sample. It's true! But is this actually a fail? And what does it mean for your test if your sample is diluted? We'll explain all of that in this article.
Drinking too much water is the most common reason for a diluted urine sample. The concentration of dissolved particles in urine is measured by its specific gravity (SG), which refers to how dense your pee is relative to pure water. When you drink excessive amounts of water before taking a drug test, your body will dilute your urine so that it has an SG closer to that of pure H20--and thus fails the test!
If you're not sure if this happened with your sample, contact us at [email protected] or call us at 1-800-731-0719 and we'll help figure out what went wrong!
A diluted urine sample is a fail.
You have to be careful about the amount of dilution in your sample, because it can make a big difference whether or not you pass or fail. If your urine is diluted and it's over the limit, then it will be counted as an invalid test--and that means no pass! On the other hand, if your sample has been sufficiently diluted so that there are no traces of THC in it (or at least not enough for them to detect), then they'll say "pass" instead of "fail."
So, what could have caused your sample to be diluted?
There are a few reasons why this might happen:
You are allowed to drink water during the test, but it must be clear. You cannot use a bottle or cup, and you cannot use a water fountain. You cannot use any hose attached to a faucet or other source of pressurized water (such as a hose attached to your toilet).
The answer is yes, but there are some reasons why it happens.
The first thing to know is that you are allowed to drink up to 2 litres of water before taking your test. This means that if you drank more than two litres, your sample could be diluted and therefore fail the drug test. If this happens, don't panic! You can get another sample after waiting at least 5 hours (the time it takes for your body to process all that water).
If you only drank one or two glasses of water before giving your urine sample, however--or even none at all--then it's possible that the concentration of THC in your system was so high that even diluting down didn't help enough. In this case, we'd recommend calling us immediately so we can walk through what went wrong together and figure out how best move forward from here.
A diluted sample is when a specimen is watered down. The test subject may dilute their urine by drinking large amounts of water just before taking the test, or they could have used something like Visine or soap which contains chemicals that can be detected in their urine and give them away as cheaters.
A diluted sample can also be contaminated with other substances that aren't actually urine--this could happen if you're trying to cheat on your drug test and someone else's bodily fluids get mixed up with yours during collection/transport/etc., but it's not common enough to worry about unless you're really paranoid about getting caught cheating on tests (and if so, then maybe don't try?).
The lab doesn't test for dilution, but the officer has to report it.
The officer will report it as a positive dilution and also as less than 200mg/dL.
If the officer suspects that your urine sample has been diluted, he or she will not be able to test it. The officer will then have to report this to the court, which could result in you losing your license for up to one year. However, even though your urine sample cannot be tested for alcohol content on the night of your arrest, it does not mean that driving under the influence is legal! In fact, driving under any amount of influence is illegal and can lead to serious consequences including jail time or community service hours if convicted.
If the sample was diluted and it was more than 200mg/dL, you're not guilty of DUI.
However, if you have a diluted sample that is less than 200mg/dL, that doesn't mean you can breathe easy just yet. In fact, if it's less than 100mg/dL (the legal limit), then technically speaking you're still guilty of driving under the influence according to law!
You can be charged with tampering with evidence if you try to dilute your urine sample; this is a serious felony offense in most states. If you are found guilty, the penalties may include jail time and fines. You will also have a criminal record that will make it difficult for you to find employment or housing, should you need it later on.
If your sample is diluted, you are still guilty of DUI according to law as long as it's less than 200mg/dL. If your sample is more than 200mg/dL (anything over the legal limit), then no matter what else happens with your case, you cannot be convicted of DUI because there was no alcohol in your system.
If your BAC comes back at 0.00% or below 0.00%, but the officer believes that there may have been some tampering involved in obtaining that result--for example: someone urinated into a cup for them--then they can charge you with tampering with evidence and send those charges through court instead of accepting an innocent plea from a person who had no alcohol in their body at all times during driving or being pulled over by police officers who were investigating suspected drunk driving offenses around them.*
However, if both parties agree that there are mitigating circumstances explaining why someone might have had an unusually low blood alcohol content reading such as taking medication beforehand (prescription drugs often contain small amounts), then both parties might reach an agreement outside criminal courts where fines would be paid instead of jail time served.*
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of what it means if your urine sample is diluted. If you're still confused or concerned about your test results, don't hesitate to reach out! We can help answer any questions you might have about this process and guide you through the next steps.