Sinking Feeling
Why is Venice sinking and when will the Italian city be underwater?
The picturesque city could be submerged within years, destroying landmarks and making a quarter of a million people homeless
THERE are fears the famous Italian city of Venice could be completely engulfed in water, as a £4billion project to protect it from sinking stalls.
Read on to find out what is causing the problem and what's being done to stop it from happening.
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Is Venice sinking and how far above sea level is it?
Venice has been hit by ever-rising water levels over the past century.
It's surrounded by the sea due to its position within the Venetian Lagoon, which is a shallow wetland right on the Italian coast.
This means it can bear the brunt of high tides coming from the Adriatic Sea which flow towards the city.
Venice is built upon more than a hundred small islands, with a network of canals in place of roads.
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It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a tourist hotspot, and has often been rated as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Venice is only around a metre above sea level though, meaning it often gets flooded - and the gradual sinking of the city means flooding is getting worse.
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The city's buildings were built using long lengths of wood made of tree trunks that were pushed down into the ground to make them stable.
Underneath isn't completely solid, so the foundations of the city have been able to move over time.
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The solid bedrock of the area is much deeper than where the wooden poles currently go to, and so they've slowly gone further downwards into the mud.
How much does the city sink each year?
At the moment, Venice is sinking by around 1 to 2mm each year.
This might not sound like much, but it's enough for experts to say the city might be underwater within a century.
The Venice area is naturally subsiding. This process is characterized by a long-term component controlled by tectonics and geodynamics and sedimentation.
Sea-level rise in Venice: historic and future trends
A combination of the city sinking and rising sea levels means its future is at risk unless action is taken.
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City records show there have been over 320 "very intense high water events" in the past 150 years, but more than half of those have been in the past thirty years.
Why was Venice built on water and is it man-made?
The history of Venice goes back hundreds of years, and details of why it was built there aren't fully agreed upon by experts.
Many think refugees fled there from further ashore, trying to get away from invasions that were taking place.
The canals of Venice were created by settlers draining parts of the lagoon so they could make the islands bigger and more suitable for building on.
They shored up the banks with wooden pilings, which helped make the foundations of buildings.
Between the ninth and the twelfth centuries, the city became a maritime empire, acting as a trade centre between Europe and the rest of the world.
Thousands of ships went in and out of the area.
The grim scenario is that Venice will be one of the first cities in the world to succumb to the implacable rising of sea level, and will become a new Atlantis.”
Shaul Bassi
Nowadays over a quarter of a million people live there, and many millions of tourists visit every year.
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Why is Venice sinking?
There are a number of reasons why Venice is sinking.
The foundations of the city don't go far enough into the ground to reach the solid bedrock, meaning the city is pretty much sinking into the mud.
There is also the issue of rising sea levels caused by global temperatures getting higher.
With continued ocean and atmospheric warming, sea levels will likely rise for many centuries at rates higher than that of the current century."
US National Ocean Service
As well as that, it's thought the sheer weight of the buildings and people are also pushing things further downwards.
In the past, water was pumped from underground up to the surface, but this has now been banned.
When could Venice completely sink?
If no action is taken, experts think Venice could be underwater by as soon as 2100.
Flooding in low-lying coastal areas is forcing people to migrate to higher ground, and millions more are vulnerable from flood risk and other climate change effects."
National Geographic
Scientists say sea levels are rising more quickly than ever, and it's getting worse.
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A report in 2021 by the European Geosciences Union says the sea level could be up to 120cm higher in Venice by the end of the century.
This would cause huge damage to the buildings, which were only built to withstand water at lower levels.
Bricks that become wet with salty seawater can crumble away, meaning some of the city's most stunning buildings could disappear.
How could the sinking be stopped or mitigated?
A number of ideas have been suggested to stop Venice from sinking.
The big project to save the city is called MOSE, which would see a row of huge barriers put in place that rise out of the sea to stop water from getting past.
These would come up from the water when high tides hit, meaning the city would be protected from higher than usual sea levels damaging buildings.
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It's been hit by massive setbacks though, with multiple delays and soaring costs.
It was originally due to be in place by 2011, however it's still not complete, and is not expected to be fully working until 2025.
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There have also been suggestions of pumping huge amounts of concrete into the ground in order to make foundations more stable.
Experts say this could make things worse though, as it might damage existing structures and it would be extremely difficult to carry out.
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