Name: This Flood Barrier Could Save Venice
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Venice is sinking, with sea level predicted to rise another 40 inches by the end of the century. Could a colossal network of flood barriers save it from the sea?

Venice is sinking. Could flood barriers be the answer?

This Flood Barrier Could Save Venice

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Venice is sinking, with sea level predicted to rise another 40 inches by the end of the century. Could a colossal network of flood barriers save it from the sea?

Venice is sinking. Could flood barriers be the answer?

Tech & Engineering

This Flood Barrier Could Save Venice Published November 8, 2022 NARRATOR: Venice Italy, is in peril, extreme floods inundating the city… Models suggest the sea level here could rise more than 40 inches by the end of the century. It would seem the future of this remarkable city is bleak, but now there is hope. After nearly 20 years of construction and some $8-billion, a network of enormous flood barriers, called the “MOSE,” is in place. It is designed to block the floodwaters before they reach the city. In charge is Elisabetta Spitz.ELISABETTA SPITZ (Special Commissioner for the MOSE): (Dubbed) The MOSE is a masterpiece of Italian engineering. It has required so much labor, so much research, so much testing.NARRATOR: The scale of this project is immense. Seventy-eight individual gates are arranged in four barriers that each stretch over 1,100 feet across the inlets, to the lagoon. So the barriers are only lifted when a flood endangers Venice. Each gate is colossal, approximately the size of two tennis courts.ELISABETTA SPITZ: (Dubbed) These gates are fixed to concrete beds, sitting on the bottom of the sea.NARRATOR: The gates are full of water which weighs them down and keeps them lying flat on the seafloor, until the team injects compressed air through a system of valves.ELISABETTA SPITZ: (Dubbed) Air is pumped into the gates, and they slowly rise and emerge from the sea. Then they join together and hold back the, the high tide.NARRATOR: Most floods last fewer than four hours, so once the threat has passed, the team can lower the barriers. The MOSE is still in its testing phase. The team is perfecting how to operate the barriers when an acqua alta threatens the city.ELISABETTA SPITZ: (Dubbed) This project needs to work perfectly. Water cannot pass through.

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This Flood Barrier Could Save Venice

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