The Telescope

Issue Date: 12/4/06

Guest speaker talkss about Venetian enviromental issues

By Jason Dunn

Media Credit: Sean Ascani Alberto Zirino consultant for the Venice Water Authority talks about floodgates that help control the water level in Venice, Italy on Nov. 21 in Room ES-19. Zirino was invited by the Earth Science Department to speak on the subject.

In an effort to inspire students about career possibilities, the Earth Science Department hosted a guest speaker for a free presentation Nov. 21

Alberto Zirino, a consultant for the Venice Water Authority, spoke to an audience of students about the environmental situation in Venice, Italy and about mechanical floodgates that have been constructed to help control the water level.

"We're always on the lookout for people who can come and give presentations to our students," said Patty Deen, chairwoman of the Earth Science Department. "Guest speakers are a really good way to see what careers are available."

Zirino works as a consultant on what he said is a $3 million per year project centered around three mechanical floodgates that can help control the water level in Venice by blocking the Venice lagoon from the Adriatic Sea.

"This was the proposed mechanism to prevent flooding in Venice," Zirino said during the speech. "Unfortunately, this makes for the worst maintenance problems you can imagine."

Zirino's presentation included summaries from many scientific studies about the ecosystem around the Venice lagoon and studies about the environmental impact of the floodgates.

"There's no reason to suspect that moderate gate closure would cause adverse affects," Zirino said. He said he considered moderate gate closure to be about 50 continuous days.

"That doesn't keep people from protesting about the gates," he said.

Zirino said the gates were costly, but no viable alternative has been proposed.

Zirino also spoke about the damage rising water is doing to Venice's buildings. He showed a study that used old paintings to determine the city's water levels from hundreds of years ago and compared them to today's levels.

Zirino said the Venice lagoon is about 1 meter deep and 550 square kilometers in area, an area about 10 times that of San Diego Bay. He said given its area and depth it is relatively thinner than a sheet of paper.

Continued...

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