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How to stop public urination: Make the walls pee back

(Screengrab from YouTube)

Public urinators in Hamburg, Germany’s St. Pauli district have been warned: It’s “peeback time.”

The neighbourhood known for partying had a growing problem: drunks were relieving themselves on walls, home entrances and even on playgrounds.

Fines and prohibitions did little to deter the gross habit, so annoyed community residents took matters into their own hands and used the urinators’ pee against them.

Thanks to hydrophobic paint coating favourite urination spots, the walls in St. Pauli now “pee back.”

“Don’t pee here! We’ll pee back” signs now read on treated walls.

“We sprayed most-frequented walls in our district with a super-hydrophobic coating. This coating is so water-repellent that liquids splash right off the surface,” the community group explained in a YouTube video.

“In doing so, we are not only making out message clear, but also making sure that it reaches our target group.”

For partiers relieving themselves against these walls, this means getting splashed on by their own urine.

And not all treated walls in the party district are marked, either, forcing people to essentially pee at their own risk.

“Watch out! From now on, it’s Peeback time,” said Julia Staron of St. Pauli Interest Community in the group’s video.