Site Visit Objectives: To provide the opportunity to observe interventions (both realised and in progress) designed to defend and safeguard the precious lagoon ecosystem.

Company profile: The Consorzio Venezia Nuova is the Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport (Venice Water Authority concessionaire) responsible for activities safeguarding the lagoon that fall within the jurisdiction of the Italian state as defined by law no. 798/84. The Consorzio Venezia Nuova carries out interventions in the lagoon according to three main objectives: defence from high waters, defence from sea storms, and the restoration of environmental balance.
Defence from high waters involves an integrated system of interventions. For the complete protection of Venice and other urban areas in the lagoon from all levels of high water (including extreme cases and the potential rise in future sea levels) a combined system of various measures has been developed. These include the temporary closure of all three lagoon inlets by means of mobile gates (the so-called Mose System) to protect against exceptionally high tides and complement the mobile gates, together with the local defence interventions in the lowest-lying urban areas, protecting against the tides that cause the most frequent flooding. This integrated system guarantees not only total protection from high waters, but it also safeguards port activity, water quality, and lagoon morphology.
Defence from sea storms is a complex intervention program designed to prevent the erosion of the coastline through the creation of new beaches or the widening of existing ones, the construction of ‘breakwater’ shore structures, the restoration of ancient sea wall defences (murazzi) and, where possible, the restoration of rows of dunes.
Restoration of environmental balance includes the recovery of lagoon morphology and the arrest and reversal of environmental decay. The recovery of lagoon morphology comprises of works such as dredging the lagoon channels, the use of the dredged sediment to construct mudflats and salt marshes, and the protection of existing salt marshes using advanced natural engineering techniques. The program also incorporates works to safeguard the minor islands. Arrest and reversal of environmental decay means, above all, preventing the dispersion of contaminants from dumps, used in the past to dispose of various types of waste (including industrial), as well as from the channels and canals in the industrial area of Porto Marghera.