‘Pee-back time’: A paint that splashes urine back on those relieving themselves in public in London

If you thought urinating in public was an Indian problem you are mistaken. The United Kingdom too faces a similar menace. Now the Westminster City Council in London has come up with a novel way to deal with those relieving themselves in public and it involves paint.

No, the authorities are not writing quirky messages on walls as we see in India. But they are painting them with a “splash back” substance which will leave offenders soaked in their own urine. Wonder what that is.

The paint that pees back

To deter drunk revellers from urinating in public, the council is painting the streets of Soho, a neighbourhood in the City of Westminster with pubs, dining and shopping centres, with special paint. It reportedly splashes back on the person who urinates on it, according to a report in the BBC.

The paint is made of a water-repellent layer, so urine or any other liquid bounces back on the perpetrators. Walls and streets of five locations including Westminster and central London will get a coat of the “splash back” paint.

A similar paint was used in the red light district of Hamburg in Germany in 2016. According to a report in Forbes, it comprises two layers of a superhydrophobic substance called Ultra-Ever Dry, which creates surface chemistry and texture with patterns of geometric shapes that have “peaks” or “high points”. These high points repel water, some oils, wet concrete and other liquids.