A Sinking Rescue Plan.(preventing flooding of Venice)(Brief Article)

Venice is sinking, and so may the scheme to save it. Ever since scientists back in 1981 first proposed building floodgates at the mouth of the Venice lagoon to protect the island from the rising waters of the Adriatic, the plan has attracted controversy. Environmentalists protested that closing off the lagoon would turn it into a cesspool. Residents objected that the gates would be an eyesore. The solution: inflatable, underwater gates that would stay out of sight at the lagoon bottom and rise up only during storms or higher-than-usual tides. Successive governments dithered over allocating the $3 billion needed for the eight-year construction project. Now it may ...