More pee wall locations added. Check out the Chronicle coverage. http://t.co/ZzMNUA9rv2 @lizziejohnsonnn @MrCleanSF pic.twitter.com/ayMxno4pq5
— SF Public Works (@sfpublicworks) October 5, 2015
The Chronicle reports that San Francisco Public Works is doubling down on its pee-deflective wall project which aims to curb public urination by spraying twice as many walls with liquid resistant splash-back paint. But meanwhile, Mission Local is questioning the program's efficacy with a bit of an experiment in, shall we say, yellow journalism. They put the walls to the test and imply that San Francisco might be "pissing away" funding on the project.
The urine-repellent coating at our two testing sites did not repel streams of piss. It may be that our jets of urine were not sharply angled enough. Or the walls could have lost their reflective effectiveness because of age, though they were coated in July and the paint distributor said they should last about a year.
The walls, which DPW chief Mohammed Nuru introduced in a pilot program this summer were, at least according to his office, already generating a positive effect. In reporting on the progress, the Department wrote in August that they would "spend the next six to eight months monitoring the situation — with our noses and eyes."
Testing SF's Pee Reflecting Walls from Mission Local on Vimeo.
San Francisco magazine also gave the walls a (somewhat less than) dry run in July, though with a water bottle, and found them to be ineffective. You can see where all the walls are here if you've got a hankering to try this yourself, which we here at SFist do not endorse.
Related: Three-Story-Tall Lamp Post Collapses Onto Occupied Car, Urine To Blame