Man Pees on Wall, Wall Fights Back!

Picture this – 2AM, after drinking with friends, you’re on your way home and then – Mother Nature calls… you just have to go. But where?

Ahh, there’s the ol’ trusty wall, just waiting for you to unleash your fury (‘coz hell hath no fury than holding in your pee, right)? Well, the bad news is that now, some of San Francisco’s city walls have a fighting chance.

San Francisco City’s Department of Public Works found what they hope is a solution to the public urination problem that plagues (and smells) the city.

They sprayed some of the city walls with Ultra Ever Dry, a water-repellent coating that makes liquid (in this case, pee) literally bounce off the surface of the wall. Not only does this paint keep surfaces dry, it is also self-cleaning. This means that it will keep the walls virtually bacteria free.

Now theoretically this is supposed to bounce right back onto your feet… but you could just pee at a different angle.

How awesome is Ultra Ever Dry? There was a friggin’ TED Talk about it.

San Francisco’s New Pee-Proof Walls

• Mission – Southwest corner of the 16th and Mission Street Bart Plaza
• Financial Dist. – Stockton Street tunnel stairwells
• North Beach – Wall on the Adele Street side of 890 Jackson St.
• SoMa – Wall on the Varney Place side of 98 Jack London Alley
• Garage and side door of 3487 17th Street
• Osage Alley between 24th and 25th Streets
• Garage door alcove at 121 Ninth St.
• Minna Street side wall at 145 Ninth St.
• 496-498 Natoma St.

This looks like good start, but will it really be a deterrent to the public urination problem?

Public Works director Mohammed Nuru got the idea from Germany (and if you’ve been in Germany during Oktoberfest, you know what I’m talking about). The city of Hamburg launched this sometime in March 2015 and as of this time, we have no official word as to how effective it is in deterring public urination; however, Nuru is positive that this will reduce the number people using the walls.

If costs are anything like Hamburg, it’s about $700 to cover six square meters with urine-repelling paint, but SF currently spends about $2 million a year cleaning up bodily fluids (pee + ewwwwwww) from the streets.

This project is still in its pilot phase, so late night revelers still have a reason to hold it in (their feelings in)… literally and figuratively.

Read More on SF Gate.