Henry from England Writes:

If I want to test my drink to see if it has been poisoned, how would I go about it?

Hi Henry

It’s unfortunate you feel that your drink may have been poisoned.  I’m very sorry to hear that.

Because poisoning is deliberate, whoever is going about it will ensure that the poison dissolves completely into the water, leaving no taste, odour, or colouring.  The short answer is, there’s very little you can do to detect poisons yourself.

If it’s a drink, such as something you left at the bar while you went to the bathroom, your only option is to purchase a fresh one.

However, if you feel that your water is being poisoned, you have several options at hand.  The very first thing you should do is purchase bottled water for drinking and cooking, or find another source of water you think is safe for that purpose.

If the water coming from your taps is municipally treated water, your best option is contact the municipality directly.  If you have evidence to indicate that the water supply has been tampered with, it is your duty as a good citizen to inform the appropriate people, especially because this probably does not just concern your water but everybody’s water in the distribution system.  The people running your water plant will be capable of dealing with the situation at hand.  They will most likely issue a warning to find other supplies of drinking water while the matter is being investigated/corrected.

If you have your own water supply, again, ensure you have an alternate source of water for drinking and cooking.   Never, ever boil water, as that only works if you know for sure the poisining is from a bacteria or virus (anthrax, e.coli, etc.).  If it’s a chemical poison boiling often concentrates it as water evaporates from your pot.

Look in your telephone directory for a laboratory that tests drinking water.  If you cannot find any, call your local municpality, they should be able to provide you with the name of a good one.  Inform the lab that you think your water may be poisoned, they will send you the appropriate bottles to collect samples so they may test it.

If you truly think your water is poisoned and you want to find out yourself, there are kits on the market that can test for the indicators of poisoning.   Several companies in the United States came out with these kits post 9/11 to sell to municipalities who feel that there may be a terrorist attack on their water supplies.  One such company is Severn Trent Services.  They produce a test kit called the Eclox rapid response test kit.  This kit will confirm the indicators of water supply contamination quickly and on site.  The company website is here and you can find information on the Eclox kit here.

I hope this helps, Henry. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if you require further clarification or additional information.

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