To Discourage Public Urination, Australian City Introduces Open-Air Urinal

After a city official described its urine-soaked streets as a "disgusting mess," open-air urinals are being introduced into the downtown area of Sydney, Australia, to discourage drunks from peeing in public.

The al fresco toilets, also seen in some European and Canadian cities, are aimed at stopping people from urinating on residential doorways, in bank ATM lobbies and on the streets.

Sydney's center apparently is so plagued by public urination that the local council claims it faces a yearly clean-up bill of $7 million, and it's desperate to stem the tide.

City of Sydney

Sydney, Australia, is planning on installing open-air urinals such as these in Amsterdam.

"It's disgusting, and residents shouldn't have to put up with it," Suzie Matthews, Sydney's late night economy manager, told Sydney Media.

"The city over the years has received complaints from residents and business owners about literally people urinating on their front doorsteps, in their front gardens, on their building walls.

"[Sydney] faces huge clean-up bills after each weekend and cleaning up this disgusting mess costs ratepayers more than $7 million a year."

According to figures local police provided to 9News, arrests in Sydney for offensive conduct -- including public urination -- increased 30 percent over the past 24 months.

"Urination is frequent on Sydney streets, as there is not enough access to public toilets," Michael Stern, a former resident of Cleveland, Ohio, now living in Sydney, told AOL News.

"It's acceptable in Sydney because [it's believed], 'When you gotta go, you gotta go,' but this never happened in Cleveland. It was too cold."

Still, Stern doesn't look forward to using the open-air urinals.

"I wouldn't use one of these," he added. "It doesn't look like you can wash your hands."

The New South Wales state government endorsed the introduction of the urinals, claiming it would stop anti-social behavior.

"We've been aware of a problem for some time with public urination," a spokesman said. "If facilities are not there, people will use it as an excuse to do it anywhere."

The Sydney urinals are designed for use by men only; no solution has yet been offered for women caught short on the city's streets.

It is proposed that the urinals be installed on Friday and Saturday nights and removed each morning.

Public urination hit Sydney headlines last week after two professional rugby league players were arrested for allegedly urinating on a storefront.

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