Water level regulation

Patented system for regulating the water level in the Venice lagoon by regulating the water flow in its emissaries.

The system consists of three innovative mobile barriers in the gates of the Venice lagoon towards the Adriatic Sea, the Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia harbor mouths.

The water flow is regulated in such a way as to maintain normal conditions in the Venice lagoon, in the presence of tides that, at least theoretically, reach up to 3 meters in height, meaning by tides the combination of tides of gravitational origin, which are added together with the simultaneous phenomenon of high water in Venice and in the upper Adriatic, due to winds from the southern quadrants.

In the most reasonable and realistic case that the water level regulation system is currently sized for tides up to 2.50 meters high, it can in the future be implemented for tides up to 3 meters, with modest costs.

Each dam is made up of steel modules, transported to the site, where they are interconnected to form the dams.

The dam as a whole is a mobile structure of considerable size, extremely robust that requires relatively little maintenance, its constraint system is incomparably more secure, robust and effective than that of the Mose (Electromechanical Experimental Model).

No part of the dam is in a pit at the bottom of the channel and therefore silting cannot be generated.

There are no traditional hinges that constrain the dams to the ground, which, over time, can be damaged.

The modules are constrained by special constraints, which are not affected in the least by the wave motion, are not damaged even in the long term and substantially do not require maintenance.

The seabed is raised by only 40 cm within a narrow strip below the barrier and therefore navigation is not subject to substantial limitations.

The water flow regulation system allows the gradual and differentiated regulation of the water flows through the different inlets, therefore allows to regulate the water flows inside the lagoon, and ultimately allows to adjust the position of the lines of the watershed of the basins inside the lagoon referring to each of the inlets,

In the three access channels to the lagoon, the differentiated regulation of the consistency and speed of the water flows makes it possible to limit, at least in part, the erosion of the seabed and shores in the Venice lagoon and the accumulation of sediments in emissaries, intralagunar canals and canals. This topic is taken up and expanded on the page concerning the change of water in the lagoon.

Over the centuries, courageous and, in all senses, costly initiatives were taken to regulate the levels and flows of the waters in the lagoon. Over time, not a few of these initiatives produced effects contrary to expectations. To the great credit of the Venetians goes the fact that they were always able to clearly recognize any inconveniences that occurred and to provide pragmatically to overcome such inconveniences.

It is difficult to predict precisely what the effects of the variation of water flows in the lagoon may really be and therefore, for example, where and to what extent the erosion of seabeds and banks will decrease and to what extent the silting up due to the deposition of sediments.

The system allows to adjust, gradually over time, locally and also as a whole, the flow rate and direction of water flows through the inlets and into the lagoon, it is a flexible tool to achieve, over time, a pragmatic setting of the regulations of the flows, based on the effects and results that are gradually obtained and monitored over time.

In a calendar year, already now and even more in the future there are periods in which the exchange of water in the lagoon is limited or completely inhibited by the dams which prevent the high water of the Venice lagoon from rising above the level of safety. This will happen for whatever type of barrage is made.

The decreased exchange of water in the lagoon will cause serious consequences on the ecosystem of the lagoon and Venice will suffer particularly.

The patent concerning a system for the exchange of water in the lagoon, can be integrated with the patent that regulates the flows in the emissaries.

The Sa.Ve. , which takes advantage of both patents, guarantees that during the periods in which the water flow in the inlets, from the sea to the lagoon and vice versa, decreases due to closed barriers, the exchange of water in the lagoon is carried out by a hydraulic system .

This plant generates almost physiologically natural water flows to and from the lagoon, in phase and synchronous with the tides in the sea, even in periods in which the sea level for consecutive days remains constantly higher than that of the lagoon.

The water change system, integrated in the system for regulating the water level in the lagoon, allows you to set the water flows inside the lagoon even more precisely and punctually.

For the functioning of the water exchange system, only and exclusively renewable energy produced by the tides in the sea is used.

Navigation through the lagoon's emissaries is always possible, even during periods of high water in the Venice lagoon, during which the lagoon is protected.

The Sa.Ve. is also designed for a hydraulic power generators integrated in the dams and for a system of energy storage located inside the lagoon or overlooking it.

The cost of the project as a whole is considerably lower than that of the current Mose experimental module.

It is possible to integrate the regulation system with some structures of the Mose, in order to obtain savings and recoveries of costs already incurred.