One thing I was taught from a young age, and that has been reinforced several times throughout my military training, is that the color of one's urine indicates your current level of hydration (ie, the darker it is, the more dehydrated you are. If it's clear, you're good).

Not everybdy knows this, and not everybody thinks to pay attention to the color of their urine when they've been active all day and just run to the bathroom and back out again.

This idea is for a device that measures the clarity of one's urine, and if it is dark enough to indicate a possible health hazard, a voice comes out of a speaker saying "you need to hydrate."

I mentioned urinals in the title because I think it would be easier to make it work in a urinal. This is not meant to exclude women - if this could work as well in a regular toilet, then put it there, as well.

Could also have a scale under a rubber mat (to protect the scale) in front of the urinal or rigged to pressure sensors on the toilet seat so it can recommend how much you should drink to reach a healthy level based on your weight.
-- 21 Quest, Dec 04 2006

Restrooms could have bottled water vending machines next to the urinal: "Hydrate now, just $2.99"
-- phundug, Dec 04 2006


Perhaps pass the urine through a filter that measures the water content? This may require a conversion to waterless urinals to avoid dilution problems.
-- 21 Quest, Dec 04 2006


These sensors could be calibrated to ignore a certain amount of water, such as the water used for flushing the urinal or toilet or whatever.
-- PollyNo9, Dec 05 2006


Add a additional sensors, such as for high sugar and 210Po. You may even be able to charge for the real time health check.
-- kbecker, Dec 05 2006


I could see a downside when having a date over, and your toilet tells them they have diabetes.
-- Abusementpark, Dec 10 2006



random, halfbakery