# Can Venice Be Saved? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450 "2019-11-14T23:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/41 "2020-07-19T22:29:08Z")
Basic first tests of MOSE worked. Might not mean much. > **[Venice tests its mighty flood defences](https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/07/16/venice-tests-its-mighty-flood-defences)** > > A success—up to a point ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/42 "2020-07-20T13:26:39Z")
Caveat - Holland was barriered waaaaaaay way back and was built inside the system, and maintained. Venice can not be modified with any realistic ease with the technology we have today - the whole damned place is at sea level and one would pretty much have to dam across the entire mouth of the harborage and keep it pumped out. We are talking from jessolo to chioggiia, look at the map … i am not certain that would even work to be honest. it would be a nightmare, what about the fact the place is a damned flood plain, with _rivers_ flowing into it. Some of them have been diverted into canals, but still, it would be a logistical nightmare. Best suggestion? dismantle the buildings, move them elsewhere and write off the whole sodden mess. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/43 "2020-10-04T18:28:24Z")
> **[Mose flood barrier finally holds the waters back for fragile Venice](https://news.yahoo.com/venice-deploys-flood-barrier-first-084754303.html)** > > A long-delayed flood barrier successfully protected Venice from a high tide for the first time on Saturday, bringing relief and smiles to the lagoon city following years of repeated inundations. The network of 78 bright yellow barriers that guard... Successful first use of MOSE. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/44 "2020-10-05T10:13:41Z")
I had an idea while rereading this thread: make all the buildings float. That way, no matter how high the water gets, the buildings are above it. Need to have the sidewalks and anything else of use float too. Implementation is left as an exercise for the engineers. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/45 "2020-10-06T00:00:44Z")
Well, that’s sorted then. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/46 "2020-10-06T00:47:36Z")
Scrooge McDuck once raised a sunken ship by filling it with ping pong balls, IIRC. I’ve heard stupider ideas. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/47 "2020-10-06T00:50:31Z")
They then tested that on Mythbusters and it pretty much worked. [Ping Pong Balls Raise a Boat - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MOJN07XRYw) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/48 "2020-10-06T00:58:35Z")
So saving Venice may be a simple matter of getting ten billion ping pong balls. Italy might already have enough rackets if those are also required. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/49 "2023-05-29T06:25:57Z")
> What is needed, then, is a plan to extend the system’s life. Dr Tosi is among those who think that seawater could be the answer as well as the problem. They propose to pump seawater underground, and in doing so to raise the land. That may seem outlandish but, in principle, it is merely the reversal of something that has already happened. Between the 1940s and 1970s the extraction of groundwater for use by industry caused Venice to sink by about 15cm. Pietro Teatini, a hydraulic engineer at Padua University, points out that there is precedent from the oil-and-gas industry, which has shown that storing gas in underground reservoirs can lift the land above. > > The area’s geology is promising. Its sandy subsoils should be relatively expandable. Those sandy layers are capped with watertight clay which would prevent injected seawater seeping upwards to contaminate freshwater aquifers. > **[Why Venetians are pondering raising their entire city](https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2023/05/24/why-venetians-are-pondering-raising-their-entire-city)** > > A €5.5bn flood barrier has bought only a temporary reprieve ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/50 "2023-05-29T10:38:12Z")
How would they ensure the rise is evened out across the city? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/51 "2023-05-29T16:08:13Z")
I don’t think they even try to, if that is indeed achievable. Some areas are worse. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/52 "2023-05-30T04:23:02Z")
I just can’t help imagining a sort of very slow earthquake with buildings slowly cracking apart. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/53 "2023-06-12T19:29:08Z")
> **[Galveston on Stilts](https://pruned.blogspot.com/2007/05/galveston-on-stilts.html)** > > A blog on landscape architecture and related fields "So who wants to take a bet on when Galveston will get jacked up again? Or for that matter, when will it be done to New Orleans, Dakha, Venice, New York, and every other major cities in the world threatened by sea-level rise?" ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450/54 "2023-06-12T20:51:26Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I just can’t help imagining a sort of very slow earthquake with buildings slowly cracking apart. A visit to San Marco cathedral would show you a very wavy floor; the ground shifts a decent amount already. The problem was with draining the pourous rock aquifer from the mainland, 3km across the lagoon. I would imagine any ground rock swelling, like the shrinkage, would be fairly widespread and even, not too localized. The ground shift is more due to the construction of Venice. Starting around 600AD, it was a refuge from marauding invaders - the locals acheived a stable(!) building platform by pounding big logs into the mud as piles to create the vaarious islands. Shifting is due to the properties of the mud underneath. Also, fun fact, if you look on a map of Venice - a number of walkways are calle _rio terra_ where a previous canal was filled in because either it was too much like work to dredge and repair it, or more convnient to convert it to a walkway. Convenience is a relative thing. If a building does not have a waterfront door and dock, then supplies have to be moved by hand cart. Not only that, sometimes it’s the two-wheeled variety to get up and down stairs on canal bridges. I have a few pictures of side canals blocked off, with a coffer dam at each end, drained for repairs to the canal walls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-venice-be-saved/843450.md?page=2)