Elsewhere in the world, it would only affect beachfront property as the coasts recede. But South Florida is literally built on water, a swiss cheese of porous carbonate rocks such as limestone. As seawater pushes through the porous rock, a process called salt-water intrusion, it dissolves the limestone — causing rampant sinkholes all over the state that already are a big problem today — and raises the water table. The Netherlands model will never work for South Florida.