Is there a problem with canals drying in Venice, Italy?

Question

If so can anyone tell me of a web site with the details.

I was told there are news reports and pictures just six weeks ago but I can't source them.

Answer 1

No, there aren't, I live there so I know it!

Answer 2

It's not true. Venice is facing an opposite problem and the downtown is sinking. Here below a report (from Wikipedia) about current situation.However Venice's canals are not drying.

Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city. This created an ever-deeper lagoon environment.

During the 20th century, when many artesian wells were sunk into the periphery of the lagoon to draw water for local industry, Venice began to subside. It was realised that extraction of the aquifer was the cause. This sinking process has slowed markedly since artesian wells were banned in the 1960s. However, the city is still threatened by more frequent low-level floods (so-called Acqua alta, "high water") that creep to a height of several centimeters over its quays, regularly following certain tides. In many old houses the former staircases used by people to unload goods are now flooded, rendering the former ground floor uninhabitable. Thus, many Venetians resorted to moving up to the upper floors and continuing with their lives.

Some recent studies have suggested that the city is no longer sinking [citation needed], but this is not yet certain; therefore, a state of alert has not been revoked. In May 2003 the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi inaugurated the MOSE project (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico), an experimental model for evaluating the performance of inflatable gates; the idea is to lay a series of 79 inflatable pontoons across the sea bed at the three entrances to the lagoon. When tides are predicted to rise above 110 centimetres, the pontoons will be filled with air and block the incoming water from the Adriatic sea. This challenging engineering work is due to be completed by 2011.

Some experts say that the best way to protect Venice is to physically lift the City to a greater height above sea level - by pumping water into the soil underneath the city. This way, some hope, it could rise above sea levels, protecting it for hundreds of years, and eventually the MOSE project may not be necessary (it will, controversially, alter the tidal patterns in the lagoon, damaging some wildlife). A further point about the "lifting" system would be that it would be permanent - the MOSE Project is, by its very nature, a temporary system: it is expected to protect Venice for "only" 100 years.

Answer 3

The only possible reason for a canal being dry is if the report is refering to the ongoing structural repairs the city is making. One year I stayed in a hotel across from a canal that had been dried out so they could reinforce the building foundations. They are doing this on an ongoing basis around the city, but it always includes only a small part of any Calle. To much would disrupt commerce and travel around the city.

Answer 4

It's the opposite. Venice is sinking

Answer 5

there not drying. venice is starting to sink. the tides come in and cover some houses and museums. they r building breakers to keep it from flooding so much.

Answer 6

Only if there's another Ice Age and the oceans recede.

Answer 7

I have heard this as well, Google it!