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Venice will be protected from future floods by a controversial system of
inflatable gates. The Italian government has approved a £1.6 billion
scheme to build 79 gates that will be tethered to the bottom of the three inlets
to the city’s lagoon. They will be inflated when the sea level outside rises
dramatically, which happens about 50 times a year. But the scheme’s critics fear
it will harm the ecology of the lagoon, which is already being damaged by
pollution from boats and the city’s drainage system. Construction of the gates
will take six to eight years, the government estimates, because the inlets are
in constant use.