San Francisco’s fantastic solution for men who pee in public

How much do you hate it when you pass a wall or street that stinks of pee? Or see a bloke weeing against a wall in a public place?

Well, the director of public works in San Francisco, Mohammed Nuru, discovered the perfect solution. He learned (via social media, of course) that a council in Hamburg, Germany, had painted the nightclub district with a magic paint designed to deter drunken blokes from relieving themselves in the streets.

The special paint is called Ultra-Ever Dry, a superhydrophobic coating that will repel most liquids.

In practice, it means when men pee on a wall coated in the paint, their urine is splashed right back at them!

“The urine will bounce back on the guys’ pants and shoes. The idea is they will think twice next time about urinating in public,” said Rachel Gordon, a Public Works Department spokeswoman, as reported by the Daily Mail.

“We’ve gotten many, many calls from people who wanted it done in their alley or on their buildings,” Ms Gordon said. “Some people are saying it’s just a gimmick, but other people hope it will combat some of the smelly areas of San Francisco that have been saturated with urine.”

The paint costs just a few hundred dollars and is significantly cheaper than sending out cleaning crews. It is part of a wider campaign to ride the city of its urinal smell. Lights have been installed, plus signs discouraging public urination.

You can see the paint in action in this video (no men peeing in sight, just repelling various other fluids in a fascinating way).

What do you think of this idea? Would you like to see this paint used somewhere near you?