Pour water into the sea to save Venice

Venice is threatened by floods and tides

Italian experts are proposing a bold project to save the threatened Venice city. Instead of draining away, they want to pump water to lift the floating city that is sinking in the water.

The plan included pumping large amounts of seawater down beneath Venice's surface, through 12 pipelines, each about 700 meters long. Seawater will expand to 30 cm in 10 years.

Cities in northern Italy are sinking, as Adriatic sea levels rise and the tide is getting higher. The Italian government is spending 4.5 billion euros on another controversial project to build flood gates to prevent the sea from flooding into the city.

Now a group of geologists and engineers from the prestigious University of Padua has come up with a new idea that costs only 100 million euros. They plan to help lift Venice almost when the city has not sunk three centuries ago. This project will not replace the Flood Flood Ports scheme but can work in concert.

But not everyone agrees. One expert who helped keep the leaning tower of Pisa described the project as a science fiction and warned it could destroy the fragile structure of Venice.

But the mayor is excited about this option. He said it was time to find a way to raise the city and that the technique would turn it into reality.

MT ( BBC )