Justice
San Francisco Is Testing Pee-Repelling Walls
The city wants to curb public urination with paint that splashes back urine.
The most direct way to discourage public urination would be to build more public bathrooms. San Francisco is taking a much splashier approach to the problem: pee on the wrong wall, and watch as your stream explodes into hundreds of droplets that spray on your legs.
To curb public urination, the city is testing out Ultra-Ever Dry, a Florida-sold superhydrophobic coating that violently repels liquids. Nine walls have received the treatment in the city’s odoriferous Golden Triangle—the Mission, Tenderloin, and SoMa neighborhoods. Officials were inspired to try the paint after seeing Hamburg using it this year to battle late-night beer drinkers who aren’t potty-trained.