Plan ahead—no, farther ahead

The thing that strikes one most about the Italian MOSE project—apart from its massive scale and futuristic engineering—is the fact that Venetian officials have been planning it since 1966. That's 47 years! How many public works projects do you know that have planning horizons on that scale? Not many, I bet. And yet, if the lessons of Venice are any guide, maybe that is what is required to accomplish feats like this. Epic problems like coastal flooding appear to need epic planning.

Just how big is the scope of the MOSE project? The following graphic begins to give you some idea.

As you can see, the Venetian Lagoon—where Venice is located—is fed by three inlets which connect to the Adriatic Sea. The flow of water through the inlets is tidal. And during especially high tides and major storms, the sea inundates the lagoon and floods Venice.

So the planners behind MOSE (an acronym for MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico—and also a play on the biblical Moses, tamer of the Red Sea) decided to attack the problem at its source. They would design a flood gate mechanism to regulate the flow of water through those inlets.

And we're not talking some rudimentary channel lock here. No, the engineers devised an amazingly elegant system which met the requirements of a broad constituency.

For starters, the flood gate had to be invisible when not in use—which is most of the time—to placate the sensibilities of residents and tourists. So the engineers anchored it to the sea floor. They designed it so it could be raised and lowered at will, like the flaps on the wings of a plane. This also satisfied the shipping trade whose shipping lanes would not be hampered by unwanted mechanical intrusions.

But as you can well imagine, a project this ambitious is not cheap. The current projected cost for the MOSE project (expected to be complete in 2014) is $6.7 billion. That's a lot of money. To put that amount in some perspective, that's roughly six times the $1.1 billion 2012 budget for the city of Norfolk.

The high cost of solutions like MOSE is often cited as a reason for not doing them. How can we possibly afford such a thing? The answer is you have to plan for it. Flood gates which stop the sea are not short term fixes, like fortifying barriers or raising city streets. These are unprecedented measures—to address unprecedented climate change. We need epic planning now. Fortunately, there are officials in the city of Norfolk who get that and are beginning to think big.

Let's think big about solutions

These days when people say a city is sinking, it's often a euphemism for rising sea levels. That would be true of New York City, for example, where a bedrock of granite keeps the surface intact. But the city of Norfolk, Virginia, where I live, is one of several places around the globe literally sinking—even as the waters rise up around it. The reasons for this are well-known:

• Neighborhoods have been built on wetlands and the porous soil is gradually compressing
• Drinking water pumped from aquifers has caused ground subsidence
• The weight of retreating glaciers to the north uplifted the coast—and that uplift is still reversing
• And—oh, by the way—the entire region teeters on the rim of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater, which is slowly pulling land into itself like a magnet.

Once you add sea-level rise to the mix, you can see why Norfolk ranks second behind New Orleans as a U.S. city most at risk from rising water. The good news is Norfolk officials appear to be on top of this. From what I've been able to gather, there's even a sense the city may turn liability into advantage. Imagine a scenario where Norfolk takes the lead on innovation, where solutions developed here become models for the nation. It could happen. That's why I started this blog. Because that's what I think we should do.

In the coming weeks and months I'll be sharing results from my research on this subject. I plan to see how other countries and cities are addressing sea-level rise. Who are the innovators? What is the cost-benefit analysis? What are the specific challenges we face right here in Tidewater?

Let me be clear from the start: I have a vested interest in the outcome. My neighborhood and my house are at risk from tidal flooding. I'm also a believer in public works projects, of investing in infrastructure. Sea level rise is no small problem. Let's think big about solutions.