People living in Hamburg's St. Pauli's nightclub district are used to hordes of drunken tourists, crime and prostitution but many are fed up with late-night revelers who urinate on public and private buildings.
A local interest group has now applied a special water-repellent paint, also used in shipbuilding, on two especially frequented buildings in the renowned nightclub district near the port to deter 'Wildpinkler', as Germans call them.
Ultra-Ever Dry super-hydrophobic was developed by auto-makers Nissan. Its oleophobic nano-coating is water repellant, meaning that those revelers who urinate against it will end up soaking themselves.
"Wild peeing has been a problem here for a long time. But in recent years, it got worse," Julia Staron, who organized the group, told Reuters.
"Next week, we are also planning to paint the problem area around 'Zur Ritze' (nightclub) and put up the signs. But owners obviously have to approach us because we can't just run around painting someone else's building," said Staron.
In a video posted on YouTube that drew 181,000 viewers on its first day alone, Staron is shown putting up signs in German and English that say: "Hier nicht pinkeln! Wir pinkeln zurueck" (Do not pee here! We pee back!).
The special hydrophobic paint is, however, expensive.
Staron said it costs about 500 euros (530 USD) to paint a six-square meter area (65 sq. feet), but that it was worth the effort and was already having a positive effect on newly protected walls. OLUSTECH Reuters US Online Report Technology News 20150311T165528+0000