Video: Hamburg’s pee-proof walls

A screengrab illustration of how the hydrophobic paint works. Picture: boredpanda.com

A screengrab illustration of how the hydrophobic paint works. Picture: boredpanda.com

Published Mar 13, 2015

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Hamburg – A new innovation in this northern German city has taken the world by storm: pee-proof walls.

That’s right. Local groups recently began introducing “hydrophobic” paint on areas of the city’s busy night-club district, aimed at deterring late-night revelers from urinating in public.

The paint makes the urine bounce back on the unsuspecting urinator. The move has generated international attention, and led Australian lawmakers to publicly discuss whether to import the concept.

Originally developed by Nissan to keep cars clean from dirt, the water-repellent paint acts as a reflector. Public urinators in Hamburg have to be careful now, since only some of the painted walls have warning signs.

A fun night may now end with wet pants, according to state broadcaster NDR.

It costs about $700 to cover six square meters with urine-repelling paint, which has raised questions about the idea’s efficiency. According to a WorldViews calculation, one could buy more than 1,500 bottles of normal German beer for the same price.

The St. Pauli red-light district in Hamburg, where the ideas was first implemented, is known for its rampant parties and alcohol excesses. The alcohol consumption has certainly fueled spending in the popular district, but it has also led to party-goers urinating in public against the walls of houses and shops.

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“On the streets here, it’s like being in a sewer,” Julia Staron, a spokesman for the local initiativ behind the pee-proof walls, told German newsmagazine Der Spiegel.

Public urination is quite common in Germany, which is why police authorities rarely take action against such behavior (as you would know if you have ever been to Munich’s Oktoberfest).

Usually, authorities can punish public urinators with a fine of about $35, but local laws vary.

Washington Post-Bloomberg

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