Hamburg’s St. Pauli qualifies as one of the most renowned red light districts from all around the world. According to some studies, it receives about 20 million visitors each year. Owing to such a large number of visitors, the place smells weird, primary reason being the fact that it gets a lot of public urination. Recently, the walls of St. Pauli have been given an upgrade, thus allowing them to respond to public urination.
The issue of public urination affects almost every major city, however, for an area like St. Pauli which can be termed as a party area, this problem is dangerous for the merchants and residents of that area who have to live with the unbearable smell of urine on a daily basis.
As per Julia Staron of Interessengemeinschaft St Pauli – interest group looking out for businesses and companies in St. Pauli – it is ‘pee-back time’. Local authorities have turned to chemistry for help after fines and prohibitions are not working so well. The walls of the district have been coated with Ultra-Ever Dry super-hydrophobic nano-coating that is water repellant to the degree that if someone urinates on the surface, chances are their trouser and shoes will get soaked.
Oh and just so that you know, not all treated surfaces have been marked! Watch the system in action below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoN5EteWCH8