New plan to 'lift' sinking Venice

[Paul Clerkin]

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.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4458910.stm

[Hugh]

It's always intrigued me that Venice has lots of wells in its streets and squares. Obviously there's fresh water down there.

If they inject the underlying ground with seawater, what on earth does this do to the hydrology of the place?

[aaron]

i donºt know that the wells are exactly clean under venice, they have big pollution problems with the lagoon. i dont even think that the cisterns (if thats what you mean) are in use anymore, these were for filtering rain water i believe, if you look around those wells youll see drains where water would run into and filter through a sand catch that would clean it for consumption. i believe the water in the lagoon is probably brackish... this aside, the pumping of sea water under the sand seems far fetched...either way i hope something saves such a wonderful place. when i was working with the venice lagoon foundation we concentrated on the fact that venice was being washed away by boat traffic and tidal movement, rather than the common belief that it is sinking...whats important is to keep the piles from being exposed..under water they are fine...good topic guys