San Francisco’s Walls Are Taking Fight Back to Public Urinators

PSFK by Azalea Pena

San Francisco has the ultimate weapon in combatting the city’s growing problem of public urination. Anyone who will try to relieve themselves publicly will now get what’s coming to them. Mohammed Nuru, San Francisco Public Works Director, has started the campaign to paint walls with pee-repellent paint that will make every public urinator think twice about their next move.



Nuru expressed his dismay about this dirty problem in San Francisco. “Nobody wants to smell urine. We are trying different things to try to make San Francisco smell nice and look beautiful,” he told SF Gate.

Back in 2002, a legislation banning public urinating was passed. Violators are subject to pay fines ranging from $50 to $500. However, this persistent problem continues to plague San Francisco. According to SF Gate, Public Works has received 375 requests to steam-clean pungent smelling alleyways and walls since January. This comprises five percent of the total requests made to Public Works to clean up the streets.

Apart from the legislation, the Pit Stop program was also launched. This program provided public restrooms around the city. Somehow, it helped bring down the steam-cleaning requests to 17 percent. But still, these public restrooms only operate at limited time intervals.

Inspired by how Hamburg handled its public urination problem, Nuru did not hesitate to try it out in his city. In Hamburg, St. Pauli quarter is a place frequented by beer drinkers and answering the call of nature meant simply facing the wall. To solve the problem, Hamburg applied pee-repellant paint called Ultra-Ever Dry, which allowed any liquid to touch the wall bounce back. The paint has super-hydrophobic coating that repels any kind of liquid to keep any object dry.



On July 23, 2015, Nuru along with the Public Works crew made a public demonstration of how the paint works over at 16th Street Bart Plaza. Despite churning out more than a hundred dollars per wall for the paint and installation costs, the demonstration was a success.

The official Twitter account of SF Public Works uploaded a video of the demonstration. It showed a man spraying water onto the wall using a plastic bottle and once the water touches the wall, it bounces back wetting the man’s shoes and pants.


Testing out a new pee repellent that "pees back" to prevent public urination. pic.twitter.com/6eDJ4w9MWH

— SF Public Works (@sfpublicworks) July 23, 2015

Beware and stay away from these walls:
Southwest corner of the 16th and Mission Street Bart Plaza
Stockton Street tunnel stairwells
Wall on the Adele Street side of 890 Jackson St.
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.

Let this be a warning to everyone who even dares to harass the walls again.

“Use a pit stop instead of walls, bus stops and sidewalks or you may be surprised by the anti-wee paint,” tweeted Nuru.

Ultra-Ever Dry Paint