[StBernard] New plan to 'lift' sinking Venice

[Westley Annis]

New plan to 'lift' sinking Venice 
By Mark Duff 
BBC News, northern Italy  



Italian experts are proposing a dramatic new solution to the watery threat
facing the city of Venice. 
Rather than battling to keep the sea out - they want to use it to help raise
the sinking island-city. 

The scheme would involve pumping huge quantities of sea water into the
ground beneath Venice down 12 pipes each of which would be 700m (765 yards)
long. 

The sea water would make the sand beneath the city expand lifting Venice by
30cm (11.8 inches) in 10 years. 

'Science fiction' 

The northern Italian city is slowly drowning - sea levels in the Adriatic
are rising, and high tides are becoming more frequent. 

The Italian government is spending 4.5bn euro (£2.9bn) on a controversial
project to build floodgates across the entrance to the lagoon in which the
city stands in an effort to keep the sea at bay. 

Now, a panel of engineers and geologists from the respected University of
Padua have come up with the new scheme costing just a fraction of that -
100m euro (£68m). 

It says the plan would help raise Venice by almost as much as it has sunk
over the past three centuries. 

The professor leading the project says it is not an alternative to the
floodgates - but would work in tandem with them. 

He now wants to carry out a trial to see if the theory would work in
practice. 

Not everyone is convinced. One expert - who helped stabilise the leaning
Tower of Pisa - described the scheme as pure science fiction and warned it
could damage the fragile structure of Venice. 

But the city's mayor is interested. He says it is time to look again at how
to raise the city - and is convinced that the technology exists to make it a
reality. 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4458910.stm

Published: 2005/11/22 08:48:36 GMT

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