27/05/2006

Sink City

Mike Bruce, Melbourne Herald and Sun

Venice, which attracts more than 100,000 Australian visitors each year, is sinking and flooding at a rate not seen before, Mike Bruce reports on what the Italians are doing to save the city.
For someone who shares the burden of one of the world's most vexing environmental problems, Anna Somers Cocks appears remarkably relaxed.

But challenging her with the suggestion that the peril faced by a sinking Venice is a beat-up to spur some action and she moves quickly from relaxed to resolute.

"If no long-term solution is found by the end of this century, Venice will be uninhabitable," she says.

"We know from archaeological digs that Venice goes down 10cm a century.

"But in the 20th century it sank more that 20cm because water was taken out of aquifers, which meant it sank faster."

The art historian and publisher is the chairwoman of Venice in Peril - an organisation set up after the devastating 1966 floods to fund restoration of Venetian monuments, buildings and artworks.

But recognising in Venice's case that science and conservation are inextricably linked, the group has also evolved into a lobby group that promotes study and research on stemming the ominous slide of this unique city into its lagoon.

Somers Cocks says many Venetians contend that the city has always been plagued by the "acque alte" (high waters). This, they say, is an unavoidable hazard of life in Venice.

But with all the composure of a QC presenting her case, Somers Cocks rolls out fact after fact of how dire Venice's predicament is.

A marker on the canal made in 1897 is now under 23cm of water, she says.

A carpet of slime now blankets flights of steps and the stone bases of buildings that were once high and dry.

Then there are the flooding statistics: in the first decade of the 20th century St Mark's Square flooded fewer than 10 times a year, but by the 1980's the city was flooding more than 40 times a year. In the seven months from September 2000 to March 2001 alone, it flooded 40 times. Of the 10 highest tides between 1902 and 2003, eight have happened since 1960.

"Basically it's a very, very pessimistic outlook."

Venice is sinking, we all know that, but factors other than subsidence are conspiring against what Somers Cocks calls "probably the most beautiful city in the world".

Add to subsidence an acceleration in the rate of sea-level rise, the prospect to more extreme weather, and a lagoon with a delicate  and compromised eco-system, and it's no wonder some people throw up their hands in despair and say, "Let the city die".

"Imagine it getting worse because there will be subsidence combined with a water-level rise, Somers Cocks says.

"The water by the end of the century will be lapping continually against parts of the buildings they shouldn't be - and that's on a calm day."

Predictably, the extent of that sea-level rise appears to be uncertain.

The consortium building the controversial tidal barriers at the entrance to Venice's lagoon is calculating a rise of 15-25cm by 2100.

Britain's representative at the Kyoto Conference, Sir John Houghton, has stated that sea levels could rise by as much as 20-60cm in that time.

But when a state decides to spend $7.5 billion on tidal barriers at the entrances to Venice's lagoon, wouldn't that be the solution?

"The barriers are not the final answer, they just buy Venice maybe 50, 60 or 70 years, during which time you really have to concentrate on what you are going to do afterwards," Somers Cocks says. "But I don't think any solutions are being discussed. I think people have got stuck and they hope that once the barriers are there, they will work out what to do."

University of Padua professor of engineering Giuseppe Gambolati has started pumping water 700m into the soil through 12 holes across a 10km area to test whether this can raise the city by 30cm.

But Turin Polytechnic engineer Michele Jamiolowski, who chaired the committee that stabilised the Leaning Tower of Pisa, calls it "science fiction".

Somers Cocks doesn't mix her words, labelling the plan "bonkers".

"It's one thing for a city to subside gently over centuries with buildings settling slowly, and another for someone to jack it up, as this man proposes, within 15 years, in an uneven way."

Jane Da Mosto, Venice in Peril's Venice-based research fellow, agrees there is no standout technological solution yet and says the complexity of Venice's situation requires a combination of different measures to combat the flooding problems.

In the very long term, she says radical changes must be contemplated, and scientists must start investigating those soon.

"If you are talking about in 100 years, then Venice will have to consider closing itself off to the sea, which has been done in parts of Holland.

"The lagoon may have to change from being a brackish mix of sea and fresh water to being a big lake."

That would mean permanently closing the inlets to the lagoon and, consequently, closing the port, which with tourism, is the largest sector of the local economy.

"It's a difficult concept to stomach. The Venice lagoon is one of the most important coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean in terms of biodiversity. It's home to rare and unique bird and plant species," Da Mosto says.

"Alternatively, all of that could be saved in the lagoon while the city is gradually inundated."

Da Mosto, who co-wrote The Science of Saving Venice two years ago, says the lagoon today critically depends on the tidal exchanges to fuel the biological breakdown of contaminants.

Venice still needs to develop a proper sewerage system (at present all sewage goes directly into its waterways), particularly once the barriers start operating, closing the lagoon.

The water coming into the lagoon is a cocktail of impurities - apart from sewage. It contains agricultural and urban run-off and inputs from the petro-chemical industry.

Pollution has seriously compromised the lagoon, and the deep-water channel dug to let in tankers and massive cruise ships has caused extensive damage. The lagoon is becoming more and more like a bay of the sea, Da Mosto says.

But many other, more urgent factors are making Venice vulnerable, such as boat traffic scouring the brickwork - largely a result of mass tourism, which is both the city's livelihood and its curse.

Somers Cocks says Venice gets about 16.5 million visitors a year. They smother the city's resident population of 58,000 - down from the 150,000 in the 1950s.

Many moved to the mainland after selling their homes to developers for conversion into hotels and B&Bs.

And that is Venice's vicious cycle - more tourists come, fewer normal shops and services remain, more people sell up and move out, more tourists come. It is relentless.

Unless some serious social engineering occurs to bring residents back and "make Venice more city-like", that cycle will worsen, Da Mosto says.

Somers Cocks agrees, saying Venice is desperately skewed towards one sort of tourism which "is to arrive, to go around, gawp and eat".

Venice in Peril believes Venetians must be offered incentives and grants to modernise their homes to make it viable to stay in the city.

Somers Cocks also wants to see tourists pay a fee to enter the city.

A study she commissioned from Goldman Sachs showed that a 10 euro entry fee could generate up to 4.5 billion euros - equal to the cost of the mobile barriers.

"I think there's a great deal to be said for a charge, I don't think it would limit the number of people coming in - but it might make them more useful to the city".
 
Rising tide of protest

The "NO MOSE" posters abound around Venice, "Stop the complete destruction of our lagoon," they demand.

Despite the fact the MOSE (modulo sperimentale elettromeccanico) barriers are about $1.5 billion under way with breakwaters and man-made islands, the Greens, Venice council and the World Wildlife Fund, among others, want the work stopped.

They argue MOSE will irreversibly change the lagoon's landscape, habitat and ecology; cost too much; will affect the activities of the port; and will make Venice's lagoon stagnant.

Venice in Peril chairwoman Anna Somers Cocks says they have a point, but it's only part of the solution.

"Yes, the lagoon is important to the city's defence but, even protecting the lagoon's ecology, the problem would still exist, just not be as extreme. You have to look after the lagoon and stop the flooding," she says.

The European Commission has now weighed in, writing to the Italian government to demand more environmental-impact studies.

MOSE is a huge structure: 78 300-tonne, 20m wide barriers across the three inlets to the Venice lagoon that will rise to 28m to protect the city in the event of a storm or a very high tide.

The barriers are activated when tides above 110cm occur - which happens an average five times a year, Salve, the consortium building the barriers, says Somers Cocks cites about 72 hours a year.

I asked our B&B host for his view. "It's taken almost 40 years for the barriers and for us to be able to feel somewhat relaxed about living here," he says.

"I'm no scientist or hydraulic engineer, but it seems that all those who are fighting MOSE are like some modern-day Einsteins who know everything about hydraulics."