PaulChristenson
Contributor
DMP:Urine only has 3% waste to it, considered sterile when coming out of the body. I usually use a water bottle to do a quick rinse on my reg and 1st stage.
From Survival training lectures:
Only water can prevent dehydration and maintain your body in good function. Alcohol, urine, salted water & blood can only increase the dehydration process.
Regarding hygiene, let's return to the phrase "relatively sterile". While many sources will tell you urine is "sterile", end of story, this is not entirely accurate. Urine can actually pick a variety of bacteria as it exits the body through unwashed or infected genitalia. While this probably won't hurt you, it is rather icky, so the solution is to wash the area thoroughly and then collect the urine mid-stream.
As long as the pee you are drinking is your own, this is probably as much as you need to concern yourself with. However, if the urine belongs to your another person consider that there are certain viruses and bacteria that can be carried in and transmitted through the urine (such as Cytomegalovirus [CMV] or Hepatitis B Virus). In essence then you may be guzzling down a great deal more than you bargained for. More importantly, do remember that even tiny abrasions or tears on the inside of your mouth or on your lips (or on any external part of your body) could allow the virus or bacteria to enter your blood stream and thereby infect you.
Which brings us to the Rules of 3
A person can live for:
3 minutes without air.
3 hours without shelter from the cold.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.
Paul in VT