Documentary Description
In 1900, St. Mark's Square in Venice flooded about 10 times a year. Now
water covers it 100 times a year. Global warming is causing sea levels
around the world to rise and environmental experts believe Venice may
well go the same way as Atlantis.
In September 2003, work began to prevent the city’s 45km of canals
from cannibalising its ancient architecture.
Phase one saw dredging machines begin to remove 3.8 million cubic
metres of clay from the lagoon bed at the mouth of its three inlets.
This is being replaced with 9m tons of rock and concrete to provide a
sturdy foundation to fix the 79 steel floodgates. Each is bigger than a
football field and weighs over 300 tons.
When not in use, the gates will lie flat against the lagoon floor. At
the threat of a high tide, hydraulic valves can be opened at the flick
of a switch allowing the gates to pivot into position.
At a cost of $3 billion, the project isn’t exactly cheap. But then,
it’s less than the estimated losses during Venice’s worst ever flood in
1966.
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