It's more than just a wee problem for Civic. Public urination is a social issue, according to Canberra CBD Ltd, and it could also be an indicator of the ACT's summer exodus, thanks to data from a public urinal trial.
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Canberra CBD has finished its second trial of open public urinals in some of the city's top wet spots, and has collected data to try to stem the stream of drunken revellers turning the town into their own personal toilet.
During two Thursday-to-Sunday periods (December 19-22 and January 2-5) and on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, about 3000 trips were made to five four-person urinals dotted around Civic between 7pm and 7am each night, and 920 litres of urine were collected.
In the first Thursday-to-Sunday period of the trial, just before Christmas, 430 litres were collected. During the two nights of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, 340 litres flowed into the tanks.
But by the first Thursday to Sunday of the new year, things had slowed to a trickle, with just 150 litres collected during the weekend.
Canberra CBD chief Jane Easthope said they had anticipated a boost from Summernats crowds, but were surprised when toilet use dropped by so much.
Australian National University marketing lecturer Andrew Hughes said it could be used as an indicator that a certain demographic has moved out of town by the first weekend of the year.
It could also be a case of people sobering up after Christmas and New Year's parties, or saving money after an expensive time of year.
In the same vein as a ''cappuccino index'' tracking coffee expenditure,
or the hemline or men's underwear indexes, Mr Hughes said there was value for business and marketing in knowing when, where and how potential consumers were spending their time and money.
''The reason why it's dropped off is reflective of the market itself,'' he said. ''The market who would have used those sort of things [urinals] have probably disappeared.''
The most popular spots for a splash and dash over the trial were City Walk (outside King O'Malleys), with 220 litres collected, and Petrie Plaza (outside Cube) with 205 litres.
The Verity Lane urinal, around the corner from Mooseheads, was the driest of the five (140 litres), which Ms Easthope said was surprising but correlated with the results from the first trial in March, and could be down to an ingrained attitude towards that particular laneway.
''It's a behavioural thing,'' she said. ''A lot of people actually see the laneways as public urinals in a way, and it's a difficult question, because how do you actually change behaviour? You can't just go in there and say, 'Don't do that.' You've got to provide an option.''
Ms Easthope said that during the course of the two trials, the overall cost was about ''$5 a wee''.
''In the context of things, you go, 'Gee, that's a lot,' but when you actually start to work out what's the cost - the social cost, the police, the security guards … [and] also the cleaning costs to owners, to traders, and to we as general taxpayers, who are paying for the cleaners,'' she said.
On nights when the urinals were available, security guards reported a drop in public urination, and Ms Easthope said unlike the March trial, there were no issues with vandals pushing the urinals over this time.
The urinals will make a return for the Multicultural Festival in February, and Ms Easthope says Canberra CBD will continue collecting information as it works to find a solution to the issue.
''We're welcoming of any feedback from youth and from clubs and from any other users as to where the best locations are for this and indeed to whether this is the right approach,'' she said.
