Pee in Public in SF, and Pee Might Come Back at You

Your attempt to surreptitiously pee in public in San Francisco could leave you reeking of urine and more than a little wet. The man in charge of the city's Department of Public Works plans to test a water-repellant paint that's designed to cause liquid to bounce mightily back from the wall. So pee against a wall treated with Ultra-Ever Dry by Ultra-tech, and urine will likely hit you and your pants and/or shoes. "We saw this report on the Internet and thought it looked interesting," Mohammed Nuru tells the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that the city spends "a lot to send teams out and do cleanup."

Nuru, whose appropriate Twitter handle is @MrCleanSF, turned to Twitter to ask the public to chime in with walls and locations that are regularly doused. Gizmag reports the "super-hydrophobic" paint, made by a Florida company, is already adorning the walls of Hamburg, Germany's St. Pauli red-light district, where some signs apparently warn: "Do NOT pee here! We pee back." Reuters previously reported it cost that city about $530 to paint a 65-square-foot area. Nuru tells Fox 14 San Francisco plans to also tack up signs letting would-be urinators know what awaits. "Hopefully that will discourage them," he says. (A judge recently backed men's right to pee standing up.)