How to stop Venice from being swallowed by the sea

Ted O’Callahan in Seed Magazine:

VeniceVenice is sinking beneath the sea. But a group of engineers believe that sea water, itself, may be the best way to save the city.

Giuseppe Gambolati heads a team of researchers who, last month, presented city leaders with a proposal to inject sea water into an aquifer deep below the city. He predicts this will raise the ground level as much as 30 cm over the course of 10 years.

Gambolati has worked on land subsidence issues for 30 years and he says that the technique has been used effectively in other places where the ground has begun to sink. He cites Long Beach, California, where subsidence (sometimes 9 m deep) resulted from oil production; they’ve been using water injection successfully since the 1950s.

More here.