Ishvar Sitaldin
Professor Weyn
ENGL 21007
May 8, 2023
Saving Venice from Water
Venice is sinking and flooding at the same time. According to an article in The New York Times, published on April 2nd, 2023, the measures Venice took to protect their city are already projected to fail in the near future. This means that Venice will have to find new ways of protecting itself and in this essay, we will try to come up with a solution for their problem.
The initial solution from the city of Venice was to build something like a retractable dam. This dam consists of many segments which are able to fully retract and fold completely down into the seabed. The major issue with this retractable dam is that the city cannot afford to keep it up at all times. The reason they are not able to do this is because they need to keep the water flowing to and from their canals. If they would keep the dam open, these canals would become “stinking open sewers”. This, however, is not the only downside of MOSE, the name which was given to the dam. The project to build this folding wall took almost 50 years to complete, which meant that climate change is already outstripping the projections they were built to withstand. The city of Venice is already keeping MOSE deployed for longer than initially expected, because of the rising sea levels. Due to all of these factors, Venice needs to find other ways to protect itself.
An option to save Venice would be to increase the height of the already existing walls. This would solve the problem of the rising sea level but will not help with keeping the canals clean and fresh. In order to keep the canals clean, there must be a constant flow of seawater coming into and out of the city. To do this Venice could make use of water pumps, which would be connected to the walls. These pumps would work to keep the water flowing between the canals and the sea, which would help keep the canals fresh and clean. If Venice would implement this solution they would have a better dam, in terms of height, and they can keep MOSE up for longer due to the pumps refreshing the water in the city.
Another option would be to create a second wall further into the sea and alternate the raising of the walls. In theory Venice could keep the inner most wall closed and “clean” the water between the 2 walls by having the outermost wall open to the sea. After the water has been cleaned the outermost wall would rise and the inner wall would retract, which will allow the flow of the clean water into the canals of Venice. This could be done multiple times a day and should help keep the canals in Venice clean. Another advantage of having a second wall is that this can be considered to give Venice an extra layer of security, in case one of the walls fails. They could also make the second wall larger than the existing wall, which will protect the city even more from the rising sea levels.
One last solution I think Venice can implement would be to drain the canals and keep MOSE up at all times and use it as a normal dam. The city will have to sacrifice what it is most known for, but Venice will have to make a difficult decision between saving the city and preserving the historic landmarks or to keep trying to find new ways to save the city from the rising sea levels. The latter is becoming more and more difficult as Venice has to find a solution for both the flooding and sinking of the city. If they decide to use MOSE as a normal dam, they could increase its height and further protect Venice from the rising sea levels for the foreseeable future.
As we have seen in this essay, I have thought of multiple ways of saving Venice from flooding, but ultimately it is up to the city to decide what they want to do. The first two solutions will help Venice to keep its charm but will most likely not last for many years. The reason I say this is because the sea levels keep on rising and the tectonic plates on which Venice lies keeps on sinking, and this unfortunately is a catastrophic combination for the small city in Italy. My recommendation would ultimately be to drain the canals in the city and use them as roads. This way the city will preserve its historic buildings and monuments and can focus on strengthening MOSE which will probably last for the foreseeable future.
