Today's is just a test, but in reality it will be a real dress rehearsal of the MOSES, the system of mobile gates to defend Venice from high waters. Proof of this is the presence of two top government authorities, the premier Giuseppe Conte and the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Paola De Micheli that this morning they will be in the lagoon to attend what is called a technical test. Very important because for the first time all 78 gates of the four mobile barriers located at the bottom of the three port inlets will be raised simultaneously: Lido (two sections side by side), Malamocco and Chioggia. Completely isolating, as it should be in case of high tide, the Venice lagoon from the Adriatic Sea.
A technical test, in fact. The Superintendent of Public Works of the Veneto is keen to underline this Cynthia Zincone in a'interview released to italiani.it: “It is an important test because for the first time we will simulate a real opening of the MOSE. But it remains a test that will serve to outline the procedures and see how they can be synchronized. After this first test, the tests will be repeated gradually to verify their safety and effectiveness even in the most critical weather-marine conditions, such as in autumn ".
The presence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Infrastructure, however, indicates the importance of this test, perhaps something more than a simple test ...
"Certainly this is an important milestone because it will give us the opportunity, in particularly serious conditions such as theacqua alta of last November 12, to raise all the gates together. If they work, we can operate them in emergency conditions. It is an important stage but a stage. The MOSE is not finished because the systems have not yet been completed, because the architectural finishes are missing… We still need time ”.
If there will be no hitches (there have been many and of various kinds in recent years) when is the real inauguration of the Mose expected?
We have a financial and timing reconnaissance underway. Today's test should have been done a year and a half ago. In January 2019, in fact, everything had to be ready for this test, to raise all the gates, albeit with still provisional systems. By June of this year the MOSE had to be finished with the now definitive implants. Then a year and a half was expected to complete the start-up. It goes without saying that we are late. Skip the first two, we are trying to bring everything back to terms with the third deadline. It will be difficult to recover what has been lost. However, it was important to be able to isolate this goal of the emergency and give it priority. It remains clear that this does not mean the end of the works ”.
For years we have been talking about the problems associated with the maintenance of such a unique and complex machine. Could they actually pose a problem?
For maintenance there must be a plan that is made in successive steps. When a piece is finished that piece is provided with a maintenance plan. For example, the gates, which are the easiest element to consider, must be serviced every five years. For those of Treporti, after five years of being down, we had foreseen a tender not yet awarded due to an appeal. There may be these hitches, but there is a plan that includes times and ways for maintenance. A plan that must be updated, because the tests also serve to understand how a certain thing is worn, how the different activities are connected to each other, what the opening frequency must be. The activities are really many ".
The maintenance / costs chapter?
“The costs for the moment have been estimated, as is normally done for all the works, according to a percentage of the value of the work itself. This figure thus obtained must be verified on various elements. For example, how much do the lifting teams cost, how many people are needed, how many shifts, what professionalism ... There are also variables, for example all the communication systems that have evolved in the meantime and changed the previous estimates a little. We have quantified 70, 80 million a year. But there aren't enough elements yet. It's hard to say when what will break. We will certainly think of a scheduled maintenance: cleaning, repainting, sand ".
The sand, in fact. It is creating problems - not in a random place, the name itself says - in the Punta Sabbioni area. Is this actually the case?
“We had foreseen it, so much so that the final project of 2005 also included the use of two means for the removal of sediments. Put simply, a kind of vacuum cleaner for the sand. Over the years it has been seen that this phenomenon is more impressive than what could have been calculated at the time. We are evaluating two integrated approaches. The first is more empirical, that is, that every six months someone goes down, underwater, to remove these deposits of sand. The second could consist of a further work, something more structured to limit the entry and concentration of sand in that specific point ".
The problem related to the corrosion of materials?
For now we had set it aside to give priority to emergency lifts. Corrosion, which will not plague us in the first twenty years but which is certainly a problem, is probably not attributable to design or material errors. This is partly due to the fact that there are no ventilation systems yet. The dilation of time has favored the onset of some problems. That can and must be resolved, even if there are many bureaucratic and economic obstacles.
What does this experience with the MOSE in Venice represent for Dr. Zincone?
I fell so in love with this place, with this work, and also with this work that, thirty years later, it is still avant-garde. We hope that above all it will be able to manage it well, to treasure everything that has been learned in recent years with a pinch of perspective. Thinking that is what the MOSE could give to Venezia as well as protecting it from high waters. I am referring, for example, to the creation of a specific research pole that attracts researchers who love the lagoon. To a multidisciplinary university territorially characterized and specifically linked to the lagoon environment. A kind of "scientific" tourism which, if possible, would further qualify the city ".
