HOMES ON THE WATER?
Sara Visser lives in Rotterdam, a port city in the Netherlands. Every Saturday morning, she carries a cup of coffee into the kitchen and opens the window to feed the ducks that wait outside. Last weekend, a large boat passed by while she was standing there, and the floor under her feet rocked gently. Anyone else might have panicked, but Sara just went on drinking her coffee. She knew there was nothing to fear: her house floats on a river.(lines 1–5)
Such houses are called "floating homes." From the street, they look like any other house. Underneath, they sit on huge hollow concrete blocks, which keep the whole house above the water. Two tall steel poles are fixed deep in the riverbed next to the house, so it cannot float away. After days of heavy rain, when the water level climbs, the house slides up the poles and climbs with it. That is why a flood does not put the family inside in danger.(lines 6–10)
The Dutch were pioneers of the modern floating home. Twenty years ago, the country had only a few dozen, but the number has since grown to several hundred. The idea has spread to other parts of Europe, and families now live on the water in Asia and North America too. Experts predict that, as sea levels rise, such homes will be common in coastal cities by 2050.(lines 11–14)
"Even so, not everyone is keen to move onto the water," explains architecture writer Daniel Brooks. "Mention a house on a river, and many people picture a little boat being thrown around by the waves. Their main worry is that a floating home will move too much when the weather is bad. Research from the last decade suggests that this worry is as strong as ever."(lines 15–18)
The builders have not ignored the problem. "Before a new floating neighborhood opens, a company might let families stay in one of the houses for a weekend without paying anything," Brooks says. "That way, people can feel for themselves how calm and still the house remains, even when a strong wind is blowing."(lines 19–22)
According to Brooks, the plan is working. "By Sunday evening, most visitors have changed their minds completely," he says. "In one study, for instance, guests reported that storms no longer frightened them, and many hoped to own a floating home in the future. With results like these, homes on the water may soon be an everyday sight in cities near rivers and seas."(lines 23–26)