Feature: Venice flooding calls for new attention to controversial MOSE prevention plan

Residents of the flooded city of Venice are calling for an ambitious flood protection plan, first drawn up decades ago, to be completed, despite worries from environmental groups that the plan could cause ecological damage to the surrounding area.

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Severe flooding is hitting Venice and other coastal cities more frequently and with more force than ever before. When Brugnaro was asked what should be done to protect the city he oversees, he stated: "I think it is time for MOSE to work."

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MOSE -- the name is shorthand for Experimental Electromechanical Module -- is an in-progress, integrated system of submerged gates that can be raised to the surface at three key junctures leading to the Venice lagoon.

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When the gates rise to protect the Venice lagoon from floodwaters, they prevent the waters of the ecologically delicate lagoon from being oxygenated. If that happens too often, it would put fish and bird species that live in the lagoon at risk, according to Luigi D'Alpaos, a hydrologist from the University of Padova.

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