Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rising Waters
You may have heard that Venice is sinking, but that's not quite accurate. The city is partly
built on wooden foundations sunk deep into lagoon silt, and it's held up miraculously well
for centuries. Well-drilling by coastal industries resulted in subsidence, but drilling has
been halted since the 1960s.
However, the dredging of deeper channels to accommodate supertankers and cruise ships
allows more water to rush in from the sea during
acque alte
, posing danger to the city.
Back in 1900, Piazza San Marco flooded about 10 times a year; now it's closer to 60.
Engineers estimate that, with technological advances, Venice may be able to withstand a
26cm to 60cm rise in water levels in the 21st century - great news, except that an intergov-
ernmental panel on climate change recently forecast increases as high as 88cm. In 2011,
Unesco expressed concern about the impact of climate change in the Unesco-protected
Venice lagoon.
You probably won't be sloshing through seawater while you're in Venice - though 2012
had two high tides, extremely high tides usually happen once every three to five years - but
rising tides threaten Venice all the same. The lagoon's salt content is increasing, endanger-
ing sea life and corroding stone foundations. To keep Venice above water, the city has been
raising the banks to 120cm above normal tide level, especially in low-lying San Marco.
