Elevating Venice to Prevent the Flooding

In order to counter the threat posed by the alarming rise in Venice's sea levels, the Italian experts have come up with an innovative, yet paradoxical solution, BBC announced.

Their project requires the pumping of the sea water in the soil beneath the old city, the goal being the elevating of Venice with 30 centimeters in 10 years.

The Italian government is currently implementing a costly project involving the building of floodgates along the lagoon.

The Padua engineers' project, amounting to only 100 million Euros, consists in 12 pipes with the length of 700 meters which have to pump sea water into the soil.

Giuseppe Gambolati, the head of the project, said that this concept should be implemented along with the floodgates to ensure the city's efficient protection.

Still, not all researchers believe that the Padua engineers' idea is good, warning that the swelling of the soil would damage the Venetian buildings' structural strength.

Giovanni Mazzacurati, the President of the New Venice Consortium, the agency overseeing the floodgate project, said that a uniform elevation is required, otherwise the buildings might collapse.