The saving of Venice

Press, 8 September 1980, Page 16

The saving of Venice

From the “Economist,” London

Many of the visitors now crowding Venice wonder hqw much longer it will be there for them to admire.. Indeed the city is still sinking, but not very fast:. -only .a . millimetre a year. The worry that Venice might .disappear-.was set off by the major flood in 1966. . Experts discovered that the ; removal of water from artesian wells to service the. nearby industrial zone was creating hollows deep under the city. Venice was rapidly heading for a watery -ualian After some delay, the> lta ’ ia Government prevented n wells -being ; su^ nthq of stopped using nine tenths of the existing wells. • But the city is still sin ing Slowly — or rather, the ;= rising because me ice-cans are melting Venetians misdit. be. disposed to. leave . this problem to - Seir grandchildren, since t •S take well over-arcentu-ry for the sea to wash in • Serable to high tides.

Such a tide caused the 1966 flood. Another high tide last December sent water swirling over .the banks of canals for a day until the wind changed and the water subsided. Without such luck, the tide would have done as much damage as .the 1966 flood. Dredging to allow tankers to dock in the' industrial zone on the western bank of the lagoon has, made high tides even more likely. Legislation to stop excessive dredging has been flouted.

The problem could be solved quite easily by building a barrage capable of sealing off the three entrances to the lagoon in which Venice lies. The barr?"e would be used whenever an exceptional tide was forecast. The Italian Government decided to hold a competition to find; the 'best. design for such a barrage; ' Five different .designs were , submitted, including-an. ingenious -floating-sausage /system by Pirelli: But the Italian Government: rejected sail, j five.

Research continues into other, ways of saving Venice from the sea, such as pumping mud underneath it to jack ,it up.. Experiments on one small , island in the lagoon have been surprisingly promising.. Although the threat from the sea has not yet gone, remarkable progress has been made in protecting Venice from- other dangers. Atmospheric -and water pollution around the lagoon has been cut sharply. Bodies such as U.N.E.S.C.O. and Venice-in-Peril have helped to restore decaying monuments.

Venice’s social fabric needs restoring too. Venetian civilisation has been in decline since the eighteenth century, and the population of Venice is still falling. There are few jobs going on the islands except in tourism and a few craft industries such as glass-making. The ecologists have scuppered plans for* a hew industrialzone in the lagoon region. Property prices are; correspondingly low. A palace . overlooking the -Grand Canal is a snitch at $600,000;