Venice's rising water problem

Essay by ktu818A+, November 2002

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1.The tide rising over time

2.How people handled the problem

3.how they solved the problem(Barriers)

Review of "Turning the Tide" by Joseph A Harriss from the Smithsonian

In this article Joseph Harriss takes a trip to Venice and is sharing his thoughts about the city. He goes into detail how the city is known for its canals and waterways that past through Venice. He talks about how the canals and waterways are used for transportation and from time to time are known to have a few traffic jams. As he admired the wonderful architecture of the city he began to ponder "Would we be building so much on this island if we thought Venice was going to sink?"

According to local legends the city was founded on March 25, 421, and floods have been one of Venice's oldest traditions. The sea level around Venice has been changing over centuries.

To combat the problem pavement have been raised several times, but it has been no match to the combination of sinking land and rising sea level.

During the 1930's industries started pumping aquifers under the city, causing Venice to sink 4 inches. This set off a chain reaction; a century ago the square was covered by high tides seven times a year. That number rose to twenty times a year in the 1950's and now occurs an average of fifty times annually. When these high tides came in the townspeople would stack their possessions on top of each other so that they wouldn't get damaged. Then the town's people had to wait up to eight hours to have the tide to recede. On average, it would cost a family about one month's revenue to pay for damages and repairs to their home.

The Consorzio Venezia Nuova, a group...