For several years, the residents of Hamburg party hub St Pauli have tolerated public urination by drunken partygoers. But now they’ve decided that it’s ‘peeback’ time. In an attempt to combat the problem, they’ve coated their buildings and streets with a special hydrophobic paint that bounces the urine on the urinators!

Local community group IG St Pauli came up with the brilliant idea after they realized that traditional signs and warnings just weren’t working. “Prohibitions and fines do scarcely anything,” a member of the group said. “So we decided to solve the problem our own way. Now, St Pauli pees back.”

“This paint job sends a direct message back to perpetrators that their wild urinating on this wall is not welcome,” said group organiser Julia Staron. “The paint protects the buildings and residents and most importantly it sends a signal this behavior is not on.”

The special hydrophobic paint, called Ultra-Ever Dry, generally used in shipbuilding, deflects any kind of liquid that it comes into contact with. According to the manufacturer’s website, the paint uses nanotechnology to coat an object and create a barrier of air on its surface. So if a person pees on such a surface, their pee will shoot right back at them.

Members of the group personally painted the lower walls of several buildings, especially on Reeperbahn street. They also posted signs on some of the walls warning passersby of the anti-pee coating. But they recommend that partygoers refrain completely from public urination, because not all the painted walls are marked with signs.

A video about the project has recently gone viral, getting over 200,000 views in just two days. “I’ve seen in Facebook and the local newspapers that the reactions were very positive. People were just tired of the peeing on walls, home entrances and playgrounds,” said IG St Pauli board member Uwe Christiansen.