BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU PEE

     I was never a fan of peeing in public, but I have friends who do it all the time. Apparently, it's an epidemic in San Francisco. So much that San Fran's Department of Public Works recently announced that it will be coating nine walls around the city with hydrophobic paint to help combat public unrinators. Basically, be careful where you pee if you're in San Francisco. The pee might bounce back at you.

     The Ultra-Ever Dry paint is a waterproof pain that works as a repellant of liquids. It can coat any surface and it has been used before on paper and fabrics. The DPW coated walls located around the Mission and SOMA districts, but is looking to expand he paint job if the pilot program was a success. Unfortunately, coating these walls costs several hundred dollars. 

     According to SFDPW chief Mohammed Nuru, "The team that did the testing were excited because the liquid bounces back more than we thought it would. We will send people to see, visually, if there are any wet signs to indicate urination has happened."

     San Francisco is not the first city to implement urine-repelling paint. The city of Hamburg, Germany has also used the paint and saw a decrease in people who use the streets as a bathroom. Nuru said, "Based on Hamburg, we know this pilot program is going to work. It will reduce the number of people using the walls. I really think it will deter them. Aside from the wall coating, San Fran is also introducing Pit Stop stations to offer public, portable toilets and sinks during certain hours. 

     I'm not sure this will work in New York City. Bums who don't care that pee will splash on them will continue to pee on the walls. Have you smelled a NYC bum? They smell like urine and body odor anyway. People who are bar-hopping and drunk will also not care about piss splashing on their pants. The only people this will deter from pissing on a wall in NYC is the average man who can't hold it. Then again, they're doing this in San Fran and not in NYC.