--- title: The Walls of Hamburg's Red Light District Pee Back on Public Urinators description: A special kind of paint bounces the liquid back toward its source canonical: https://time.com/3735088/hamburg-urination/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-06T13:34:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:17:27.024Z og:title: These Walls Now 'Pee Back' on Public Urinators og:description: A special kind of paint bounces the liquid back toward its source og:url: https://time.com/3735088/hamburg-urination/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a75d68731efcbda/69878289e53aba7a494d7f17/st-pauli-hamburg.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: St. Pauli neighborhood in Hamburg, Germany. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Walls Now 'Pee Back' on Public Urinators twitter:description: A special kind of paint bounces the liquid back toward its source twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a75d68731efcbda/69878289e53aba7a494d7f17/st-pauli-hamburg.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Walls of One Red-Light District Now 'Pee Back' on Public Urinators by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 6, 2015 1:34 PM UTC  A red light district in Hamburg, Germany. A red light district in Hamburg, Germany.Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 6, 2015 1:34 PM UTC Public urinators in the St. Pauli neighborhood of Hamburg are in for a rude awakening: a community group has applied a [special water-repellant paint](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/04/odd-germany-paint-idUSL5N0W62OF20150304) to the walls of certain buildings that sprays liquid back in the direction it came from. The nightclub/red-light district has been plagued by night time revelers relieving themselves on walls, and residents decided that this solution would not only protect their buildings but also send the message loud and clear that this behavior was unacceptable. To give potential offenders a fair warning, Reuters reports the group has put up signs that read “Do not pee here! We pee back!” The paint, which has previously been used on ships, is expensive — a 6 square meter area costs 500 euros to paint — but the organizer of the group behind the initiative says the community is saving money on cleaning. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/04/odd-germany-paint-idUSL5N0W62OF20150304)\] _Read next:_ [_There Is Now an App for Prostitution_](http://time.com/72218/there-is-now-an-app-for-prostitution/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3735088/hamburg-urination/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3735088/hamburg-urination/"},"headline":"The Walls of One Red-Light District Now 'Pee Back' on Public Urinators","datePublished":"2015-03-06T13:34:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:27.024Z","description":"A special kind of paint bounces the liquid back toward its source","url":"https://time.com/3735088/hamburg-urination/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","Germany"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a75d68731efcbda/69878289e53aba7a494d7f17/st-pauli-hamburg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a75d68731efcbda/69878289e53aba7a494d7f17/st-pauli-hamburg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"St. Pauli neighborhood in Hamburg, Germany.","caption":"St. Pauli neighborhood in Hamburg, Germany.","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3735088/hamburg-urination/","name":"The Walls of One Red-Light District Now 'Pee Back' on Public Urinators"}}]}] ```