Venice sinking or Waters rising?

Venice is a water city, always has been. Their strength in the ages past was based on their water and the ability to ship trade anywhere in the world. But the water has also become a plague in recent times. It is easy to see why when you visit Venice. At high tide, waters come into San Marco Plaza and flood small parts of it. At storm tide, waters will flood the entire plaza. Homes that were once well above the water line now have water doors that lie always a few inches below the waters surface. The city is always building new ramps and bolstering up old ones to keep the water at bay. Breakwaters are being built around some of the more important buildings to help keep the wake from breaking against the doors. Where people used to live on the ground floors of some villas, now they have moved upstairs to the first floor and the ground floor is inundated more often than not. You can ride in the canals and see where people have attempted to stop the water from entering, water tight half doors or bricked in entryways. The doors that have been left are rotting away as the water takes its toll.
So is Venice sinking from all the weight that has been put on the fragile islands or is the water rising due to global warming. It’s a question that has been weighing heavily on Italian and Venetians for many years now. I have no idea which is which. But things must be done or the Venice as we know it will disappear. It is such a wonderful city. We went wading to get from one side of San Marco Plaza to the other but while it was a novel thing for us to do, I wasn’t really terribly comfortable doing it, wondering what kind of water I was walking through. How soon will it be before the tourists will stop coming because too much of the city will need to be waded. We watched some tourists sitting at restaurants with their feet in water. That doesn’t sound appealing to me. And with the airlines getting tighter and tighter on weight restrictions, I can’t see traveling with a pair of boots just so I can wander around Venice.
It is a question for the historians, the anthropologists, the politicians, the citizens, the tourists, and anyone with an interest in history, culture, architecture, and Venice. I don’t know where it will end.