WEBVTT - Why is Venice so wet? 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.480 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:13.120 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.000 There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. NOAs with us again and 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:21.360 it's another morning edition. Yeah, we got an email. I 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.439 think we had our last morning thing that session not 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.480 to want ago, and someone wrote down said, please don't 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.440 do that again. I didn't think it was that bad. 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.720 You guys are clearly like really tired and not the same. 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:34.080 So what I say is, if you have a choice, 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:37.240 is saved this one for the morning and just pretend 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.440 like where your local NPR station or a cup of 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:44.400 Joe like Josh is drinking. Yea, and yeah, it's all 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.920 so good and let's let's do this morning style. Let's 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:53.720 do it man, um, let's do this morning style in Italian. Yeah, 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:55.880 this is gonna be a fan favorite, I predict because 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.480 there's some Italian pronunciations that I'm sure you will do 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:01.920 for every buddy. Right, I'm gonna do it. My best 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.399 was good, good little taste of it. Yes, that's one 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.280 of the accidents you can have a great time with 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:13.560 without people saying that you're offensive. That's a T shirt. Yeah, 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:19.720 so Chuck you heard about them sea levels yeah and fallen. Yeah, 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:24.240 due to climate change. I'm saying, well, it's climate change. 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.360 To the big bone of contention is whether it's human 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:34.000 cause or anthropogenic. Uh. The thing is there are there, 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.640 It is undeniable. The sea levels are rising at a 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.240 rate of about three millimeters a year, which doesn't sound 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.240 like much, But buddy, if you live for a thousand years, 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.680 you'd see the sea levels rise by three meters, which 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.040 is almost ten ft in America. Yeah, not the biggest 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:55.160 deal in some parts of the world. Big deal in Venice. Yeah. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.360 And you know, if you're waiting a thousand years to 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.320 watch it rise three meters, that's the current rate of 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.320 sea level rise, it could speed up tremendously. And while 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.959 three millimeters might not sound that much to you out 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.119 in the Rockies, yeah, because it's nice and dry there 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.360 in the middle of the mountain. They're all stoned, right, Yeah, 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.320 because it's legal there. Who cares. If you're in a 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:24.800 place like um, the Maldives, you're saying, wow, my country 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.280 is probably not going to exist in the next like 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.200 twenty years. That's scary. If you're in New Orleans worried 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.519 about the same thing, and a little town known as Venice, 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.320 Italy is facing the same problem. It has been for 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:42.280 a very long time. And you say little town, Uh, 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.840 it is getting smaller, not only physically, but the population 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.400 because Venice is such a mess, has declined down to 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.240 about sixty people now over the years from like a 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.640 hundred and eighty. Yes, because people are tired of everything wet. 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.359 They are they used to get wet um back in 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.480 they would get wet about ten times a year due 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:07.120 to flooding. They could expect ten noteworthy floods a year. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.920 And when we say noteworthy floods, we mean like the 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:14.040 squares in the throughout the city or flooded up to 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.680 maybe your knees, kind of like the whole ground floor 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.840 of Venice. Yeah, it gets flooded like you're slogging around, 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.040 which I mean sounds kind of fun when you're a kid, 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.000 but it's not that fun, especially when you're an adult 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:29.480 who maybe a germophobe. Because Venice has an antiquated sewer 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:34.639 system that's antiquated is the perfect word. Yeah, by antiquated, 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.200 we mean all of the um sewer pipes go right 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.200 out into the canals and they have along the um 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.240 along the years added like septic tanks to treat the 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:48.320 stuff first, but not everybody has those um and sometimes 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.920 they get backed up too. But the raw sewage or 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.920 septically treated sewage in Venice goes into those canals that 0:03:55.960 --> 0:04:00.440 you float around in um boats. And when you're around 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.840 in the flood, like a tourist, you're swimming around in 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.920 fequal material. The tourist get in that water. There's a 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.040 picture of it um on a oh Man, I can't remember. 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.440 I think like a Bloomberg article about Venice or maybe wired. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.200 But it's like, if you know about Venice, you'll think 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.520 these people are crazy for swimming in this flood water. 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:22.839 And it shows a couple of tourists like swimming in 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.760 a flood in the middle of the square, um the 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:30.080 San Marco, the San Marco Square. Yeah. Yeah, And now 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.240 that you know it's it's gross to see, they're like 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:37.080 it tastes briny and sort of ou mommy, right, why 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:41.120 are my lips swollen? Yeah, it's uh, it's That's one 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.920 of many many problems facing Venice right now. An antiquated 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.080 sewer system, and a lot of the problems are unique 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.760 just because of the city and how it's created. Yeah, 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.640 let's talk about this, because Venice is not something I 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.240 knew a ton about. I knew it was on the water. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.400 I knew it was sinking. Shout out by the way 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:04.679 to Venice is sinking Athens band and stuff. You should 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.880 know fans. Um, well, then I like them already, Yes, no, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.440 you know those guys he does. In fact, no old 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:16.479 talks Jerry doesn't like. Oh yeah, yeah, they're great. He 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.640 launches into like a five minute discourse. Uh So I 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:21.560 knew a little bit about Venice, very little though I've 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.560 never been there. But when I watched this awesome video 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.920 that Josh found, Um, we should go ahead and plug 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.920 it because it's just super cool. Yeah. It's called um 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:35.760 Venice Backstage Period, how does Venice work? And it was 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.479 created by the Insula SPA, which is I guess the 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.600 production arm of the city of Venice. Yeah, so it's 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.000 like a locally produced video about Venice. But it's one 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.840 of the most fascinating, like eighteen minute videos I've ever seen. Yeah, 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.000 I mean they pack a lot of learning into that 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.240 eighteen minutes. Um. So if you don't know much about Venice, 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.400 imagine if you do know something about New York City. 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.880 Imagine like the Greenwich Village. Uh. And I use Greenwich 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.680 Village because it's not on like the direct like north 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.440 southeast West Grida. They got all those crazy diagonal streets. 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:14.039 Imagine if it's so hot right now. Yeah, um, imagine 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:18.240 Greenwage Village if every block was an island. And that's 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:22.760 essentially what Venice is. It is a hundred and twenty 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:28.560 four tiny little islands all packed together, and instead of streets, 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.760 you have water, a hudred and eighty three canals and 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.080 it's all connected by little foot bridges and real bridges. 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.800 Uh and yes, canals by boat. Yeah. I mean it's 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.640 crazy when you've never even seen like the big zoom 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.000 in from above bird's eye view of what Venice looks like. 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.200 And I was like, that's what's going on. Yeah, it's 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.640 crazy because I mean when, especially when you're in the city, 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.320 like you're walking over canals, but you don't give too 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.039 much thought to him. You're just like, oh, that's so quaint. Yeah, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.040 you're almost thinking like they dug that out on purpose 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.200 or something to get tourists. Now, those are necessity. It's 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.400 it's odd. It was an odd and different way for 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.400 a city. To form. They didn't start from a city 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.440 center and grow out. Each little block in section was 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:15.920 its own little thing. Yeah, it was kind of its 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.280 own little municipality. Um. And the reason that these people 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:23.200 set up shop hundreds and hundreds of years ago on 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.720 these islands was for for protection. Venice was a very 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:31.760 well protected municipality or cluster of municipalities. Right. Yeah. It 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:36.280 sits in a lagoon and there are three waterways that 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.120 flow water in and out every day, twice a day 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.240 with the tides. Yeah, the Adriatic flows in um to 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.920 the lagoon and uh brings it out, brings the water 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.760 back out at low tide, right yeah, yeah, high tide, 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:52.840 it brings water in low tide, it takes the water out, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.320 which is why they're not that worried about their sewage 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.480 going into the canals because because the the water comes 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:01.440 in and kind of brings all the trash out to 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.840 the sea and then no one sees it. It's the 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.520 self a flushing system. Yeah, well, I mean it pretty 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.840 much is. So that's how they've been able to put 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.440 up with that for so long because twice a day, um, 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.680 the waters exchange, there's there is a big exchange to it. 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.680 The problem is when that water comes in, especially when 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:24.440 you include sea level rises and now up to six 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.560 times more flooding per year. Remember it was like ten 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:33.160 times a year and now that's up to about sixty floods. Um, 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.440 you have kind of a problem. Now you've got the 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.680 You have a sinking city essentially, is what it's what 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.520 it amounts to. Yeah, I mean it's it's two things. 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:48.920 It's the water rises in Venice itself. The buildings are sinking. 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.920 So those are two bad things that go, you know, 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.400 that don't taste great together. The reason that sinking is 0:08:55.440 --> 0:09:00.679 because they extract freshwater from beneath the city, right, Yeah, 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:05.840 so there's less of a solid foundation now and um 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:10.200 there's also drilling nearby, like for natural gas or um 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:15.720 fossil fuels, and uh, it's also just a roading well, yeah, 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:17.360 they've done a lot of things over the year. When 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.280 you've got seawater lapping up against well, let's step back, 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.960 it's not just dirt and stuff. They realized pretty early 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.160 on we're not gonna be around unless we in case, 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.440 the entire city basically in brick below the waterline, and 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.600 they came up with some really ingenious construction methods that 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:40.400 you can super ingenious in that Venusbeck stage video on Vimeo. Yeah, 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:42.960 but even though they have been ensconce to the whole 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:47.160 city and brick as a foundation, that's was laughing salt 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.360 water and it's you know, these canals are busy. It's 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:53.520 not just the gondolier singing the song like there. If 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:56.280 you see real footage and that movie footage, they're packed 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.280 with boats, motor boats, cruise ships, all sorts of stuff. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.360 And that action creates a lot of movement in the 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.720 water and it just whittles away at those bricks little 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.600 by little over the years, over hundreds and hundreds of years, 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.839 and then that's why Venice is sinking. Um. Part of 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.600 the other problem too, is a sediment builds up in 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.760 the canals. They're supposed to close them down on a 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.760 fairly regular basis, basically damn them up, drain them and 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:27.560 then remove the sediment, and basically, um, they stopped doing 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.400 that as frequently as before, and there there's been a 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:35.280 problem as a result. Plus saltwater uh permeates bricks. Bricks 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:39.800 are um semipermeable and they have capillary action, so it 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.200 draws saltwater up into the bricks, which I mean, as 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.120 long as bricks are connected by mortar, that water, that 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.160 saltwater will rise all the way to the top of 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.959 a building. And when the water evaporates, the water is gone, 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.080 but the salt stays, and it apparently increases in volume 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.840 tremendously and basically crushes the bricks from the inside out. Yeah, 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.840 and they've they've been taken steps and measures a little 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:03.840 by little in different ways over the years to help. 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.120 But they're they're kind of fighting a losing battle though, 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.880 like inject resin into the between the bricks and into 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:14.680 the bricks with hydraulics a barrier. But you know, they're fighting, 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.600 like I said, they're fighting mother nature here, right. So 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.840 finally they've said, let's turn our attention from these um 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:25.439 these piecemeal measures of you know, kind of of treating 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:29.000 bricks and go to where the problem is. Let's go 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.720 to the doorstep of the problem, which is the Adriatic 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:36.200 and the three inlets into the lagoon. And they turn 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.720 their attention to that. And now they've come up with 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:44.720 a pretty great plan for dealing with rising tides and floodwaters. 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.600 And I think we will get to that plan right 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:53.440 after this break I knew you're gonna say, all right, 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.200 so there's a plan. You know one thing on that 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.800 video too quickly that amazed me. You're talking about the 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:03.840 building construction. Um, the walls in Venice. The exterior walls 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.000 have a tendency to bow out at the top, and 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:11.640 uh so they have these these basically hooks that pull 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.080 from the inside the walls in and then those long 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.640 metal hooks travel into the floor where they're spiked into 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:21.160 the floor. So they're trying to pull it in there. 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.320 And then the roofs of the buildings in Venice aren't 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.079 just like hey, let's keep the water out there, literally 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:32.600 like caps that locked the walls in at the top. 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.240 So it's, uh, it's not just like a weather protector roof. 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:39.920 It's it's actually like if the roof wasn't there, the 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.440 walls would bow out. And then the interior walls don't 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.520 even connect rigidly to the exterior walls. Yeah, it allows 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.679 some gifts so that they can move back and forth. 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.360 Is the wave action basically moves the walls. So, I mean, 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:53.680 we we're saying Venice is a mess, but it's really 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:58.520 an ingenious city of just engineering. The fact that it's 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.760 still there at all. You know. Another construction point that 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.240 kind of stuck out to me was that buildings in 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:10.240 Venice are built on piles of steaks, like wooden steaks, 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.840 driven into the ground to kind of reinforce the mucky 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.000 ground to build on first. It's really a remarkable place 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:17.520 when you look at all the things they've had to 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.160 do just to make that what shouldn't even be a city. 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.600 I mean, let's let's get real, but it's a very neat, 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:25.800 beautiful city. Have you been. You me and I went 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:31.880 last summer, and it is gorgeous. Yeah, very neat. Yeah yeah. 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.360 Just walking around and all of a sudden, you're like, oh, 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.600 I'm next to three thousand year old ruins just basically 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.480 part of the cityscape, right, whereas here in Atlanta you're like, oh, 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:46.120 there's a Burger king, right, but it's from the sixties exactly, Alright. 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:48.040 So we we had a pretty good cliffhanger that they 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:53.360 had an idea. So let's we'll go ahead and announce it. Okay, Well, 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:59.439 the idea is called mosa or you should do this, chuck, 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:09.480 the modulo spadimentale elector electro mechanico. So that's the experimental 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.920 electro mechanical module. Which is the reason that that has 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.360 that clumsy name is because the M O S E. 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:22.440 The acronym is also the Italian spelling from Mosa or 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.440 Moses and basically what the what Moses was well known for. 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.840 One of his many hits was parting the Red Sea. Right, Well, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.920 they thought that was very clever hit. They were coming. 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.320 I don't know, he did a lot of stuff in Commandments. 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.200 That was a pretty big hit, Burning Bush. I would 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:44.040 say the Red Sea was his American pie or no, yeah, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.880 that was his Baker Street. The Ten Commandments was his Uh, 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:52.480 right down the line, who did Jerry rafferty Baker Street? 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.000 That was the saxophone one right and right down the 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:57.960 lane was his other hit. So I've never heard that one. 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.880 You have? You just don't know, Okay, says you was 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.000 just about to bust it out too early. So anyway, 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:09.520 Mosa Moses in Italian. Uh, it's a that's a clever 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.880 use of an acronym because this thing, the contraption they 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.960 came up with, it's pretty ingenious and clever. To defend 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:20.840 against these rising high tides, which are known as aqua 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:24.400 alta aqua alta Yeah, and this is one of those 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.200 things where you say ingenious and clever, but I would 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.080 add in its simplicity. These are my favorite kinds of projects. 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.920 When man looks at something and says, well, why don't 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.480 we just build a big gate? And that's pretty much 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.440 what it is. Yeah, but it is more complicated than that. 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.720 And let's let's talk about the mosa So. Um. Remember 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.720 we said sea levels are rising in general, but high 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.400 tides are a really big problem in Venice because they're 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:56.880 getting higher. Um. So the Mosai project, uh is it 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.920 consists of a bunch of gates that can be broad 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:04.600 up and raised on command. They have a magician who 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:09.400 commands the gates to rise, and um, the gates come 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:14.240 up and basically separate the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. Yeah. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.880 So imagine a big, huge steel door that lays flat 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:23.400 on the bottom of the ocean, and uh, they fill 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.880 it with air and it's got two hinges on one side, 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.120 So that big steel door just raises up as it 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:33.000 fills with air, obviously becoming more buoyant, and until it 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.400 looks like about a forty five degree angle, uh, facing 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:41.200 out into the sea away from the city. And that's it. 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.160 It's just a barrier. It just swings up and I 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.080 think there's about a two foot differential in the water levels. 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.560 And uh, it essentially prevents high tide from happening within 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:57.400 the Venice Lagoon. That's exactly right. And um, these these 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.480 basically walls, floating walls is what they amount to. Like 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.040 you said, they have hinges on the bottom. Uh. And 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:06.080 there's all sorts of pictures of the Mose project, the 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.440 mosa A project, um, all over the internet. I found 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:14.320 it exponentially easier to understand when I saw what they 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.639 were talking about. It's like, oh, that's all it is. 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:22.600 But allow us to clumsily try to get this across. 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:26.680 So you've got the hinges, um hinge, the metal wall 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.760 to the bottom of the sea floor right, well, not 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.359 to the sea floor, well to a concrete trench within 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.720 the sea floor that the thing sits in when it's 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:36.560 not in use. Yeah, they tried to pound it right 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.320 into the sand and they were like, it's not a 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:43.240 working right, get us some concrete. So they these trenches 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.199 also provide a place for engineers to go underneath and 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.600 basically fix things and fiddle with stuff. And it also 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.840 provides the delivery system for the compressed air that the 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:58.200 hollow metal walls gates basically um fill up with air 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.560 so that they start to stand upright, Yeah, And how 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.760 long does that take? Like twenty minutes or thirty minutes, 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.960 and then uh, it takes about the same time for 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.280 it to fill them with seawater again to return them 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.200 back to their laying position on the floor. It was 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.080 a little quicker going down, but which makes sense. Yes, 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.960 but that's pretty much it. When the high tides coming, 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:19.600 they fill them with air so that the gates stand 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.800 up above water. And then on the lagoon side, the 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.719 sea level stays low. On the sea side, it can 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.240 get as high as it likes. And because they're hinged 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.520 and filled with air, they're not rigid, which means that 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:34.240 they can take a pounding and they can sway back 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.400 and forth a little bit and still not give. So 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.760 it is, like you said, it's it's ingenious in its simplicity. 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.000 It is and it's uh officially launched in two thousand three, 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:46.760 and that was and this was after years and years 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:53.399 of um I guess ideas and bids and plans, and 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.480 the Mosai project is what finally went out. They said 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.359 it was gonna be two to three billion dollars and 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:04.040 would be on Uh it's still not done. They're looking 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.640 at now. Um. They did the first successful test late 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.600 last year, and like with every big project, city project 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:13.480 like that, it's going to be over budget and over 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:17.800 uh schedule. Yes, but there's a lot of accusations of corruption. 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:23.000 Really yeah, Southern Italy a big public project, so corrupt. 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:26.760 The the group that suggested the thing in the first 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.919 place is called the you want to take it? Someone's 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:33.880 gonna be offended by me, by the way. Maybe I'll 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:39.880 bet they're not Italian. The Consortio then no EVA, So 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.840 that's basically the new Venice Consortium. It's a group of 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.399 companies and construction companies that said, hey, we've got an 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.680 idea for this problem. Let's try this. Yeah, and we'll 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.240 build it for you. We had all the companies under 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.160 our banner that can provide everything you need, and they said, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.800 we'll build it for you for two to three billion 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:02.359 dollars and every but you want what which sounds like 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.040 a lot, including to people in Venice, is that American 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.640 dollars or is that euros? That's American dollars As far 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.159 as I'm seeing right here. Um, but if you go 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:18.280 to Venice like uh, martinis like fifteen dollars, it's like 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.520 twenty or five bucks for like a little tiny martini 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.560 at Harry's Bar. I know. So it sounds like a lot, 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:27.320 But all you have to do is go open the 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:29.800 cash register at Harry's Bar in a Tuesday afternoon and 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:31.760 you can get two to three billion dollars to pay 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:35.119 for this project. You know, Alright, someone's a little salty 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:38.840 about their business. It was really expensive. It was neat, 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:44.360 but it's also like really expensive. Epe is not cheap. No. Um. 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.200 So there was a lot of a lot of accusations 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:52.760 of corruption, of kickbacks, the other thing being artificially expensive. 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.560 Apparently there was a study that found like this thing is, 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.960 they've padded this tremendously. But by the time this came 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.840 amount um public opinion apparently wasn't enough to stop at 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.480 construction had started. They did their first test in two 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:11.639 dozen twelve apparently was successful. And the Mosai project continues, 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.680 and I believe they're they're tracking for two thousand sixteen 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.399 to have all of the gates across all three of 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:23.159 the inlets operational. Yeah, and you said multiple gates. So 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.800 each of these uh inlets. You have the Leado, uh, 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:31.480 the Malamoco, and then I pronounce this Cheogia, but I 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.720 heard it much much differently on the video, so I 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.120 know that's not right. But those are the three inlets, 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:39.440 and um, well that was a British student. They just 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:43.040 pronounced things however they want, and then we assume because 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.959 they're European they know you're right. Uh. So it's not 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.320 like one big gate for each of these things because 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:51.560 it's on a curve and you can't just have one 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:56.800 huge gate. So the um, the Malamoco and the Cheogia 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:01.760 have Uh, the Malamoco is nineteen gate, that g has eighteen, 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:03.679 and they're all in one row. And then the big daddy, 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:07.119 the Leado has two rows, one with twenty gates and 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.000 with one gates. Yeah, and we're not all the same 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:11.840 same they're the same width, but they're not all the 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:15.879 same height, right, And I mean they don't need to 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:19.320 be summer taller than others. They're all about sixteen ft thick. 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:23.879 So these are huge, huge walled gates. So yeah, I 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:25.720 think we should I don't know if we've gotten across 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:27.960 how big they are you said there's sixteen ft or 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:34.479 about five meters thick. Um, they're the the deepest amount 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:39.040 of water is a hundred feet, which is like thirty meters. Uh, 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:43.080 so these things are taller than that or if need be. Yeah, 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.600 uh and then they're uh what about three d and 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:50.280 fifty tons. I think that's just for like one of 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:54.800 the gates. Yes, like one single panel could weighs as 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:59.359 much as a seven thirty seven seven seven And they 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:03.000 they are using something that Rolls Royce makes that is 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.639 basically an elevator for ships to convey each of the 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.040 gates out to the sea floor. Yeah. And it takes 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:13.080 three days to move a gate. Yeah. So they're really 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.159 really big gates, but they are going to be very 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:19.840 nimble when filled with compressed air and smacked around by waves. 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:22.920 Plus they're in water, so that helps with the weight. 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:25.720 That reminds me that this project faces a lot of 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:29.920 problems that that the project faces. So there's there's some 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:32.840 people have said, maybe this is a good idea in theory, 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:35.760 but practically this may or may not work. What it's 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:38.840 sea levels rise faster than we think, then these things 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:43.920 are going to basically be very expensive, totally obsolete gates, 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:45.800 like the water would just go right over the top 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:49.320 of the exactly. That's a nightmare scenario. Yeah that when 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:51.960 I when I saw what I saw, it didn't look 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:53.640