In an effort to prevent people from urinating on walls after a night out, San Francisco is trialling a urine repellent paint that forces the urine to “bounce back” onto the person.
The idea was inspired after the paint was used in a problematic area of Hamburg where tourists would urinate on walls outside of nightclubs and bars.
The paint is called ‘Ever-Dry’ and it was designed to create a barrier of air in front of the surface, completely repelling any liquid. The idea is that if you pee on the wall, your pee will then bounce back onto you.
San Francisco, located in northern California, has now used the paint on nine different walls across the city where a combination of nightlife and homelessness has created a problem with people urinating on the streets. There have even been an influx of requests from local residents, asking if they can have walls or alleyways near their homes painted too.
The city says the cost of using the paint and hanging up signs, advising people to “Hold it!” and to “seek relief in an appropriate place” is much less than paying for street cleaners to constantly clean problem urine areas.
