An immense tapestry of sand can be seen from the Valencian beach of l’Arbre del Gos. Now it looks similar to the one it had in the sixties and seventies of the last century, according to technicians from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge. That beach is part of the seven kilometers of coastline, from Pinedo to the gola de Pujol de l’Albufera, in El Saler, which have been regenerated with three million cubic meters extracted from an underwater deposit about 20 kilometers from Cullera. It is the largest sand transfer operation for these purposes that has been carried out in Spain, the technicians added this Tuesday. The Government’s investment amounts to 28 million euros.
Now, there is a beach line with an average width of about 120 meters that, with the natural action of wind and waves, is expected to be reduced to 75 meters. In some sections, the beach had shrunk to 30 meters due, mainly, to the barrier of the nearby Port of Valencia (which stops contributions from north to south), the loss of river sedimentation at the mouth of the Turia and the increase in temporary due to climate change. At the beach, the government delegate in the Valencian Community, the socialist Pilar Bernabé, assured that the action “goes beyond the simple replacement of sand, there is an expansion of breakwaters to protect the beach and a dune regeneration that will be will continue until December 25.”
And how long is the regeneration of these beaches expected to last in the current context of climate emergency? Barnabas spoke of “some decade” or more. The head of the Valencia Coasts demarcation, Javier Estevan Sanchis, and other Ministry technicians who accompanied him expressed their confidence that it will last several decades. All of them defended the solution of sand transfer for regeneration as the most operational and effective in a line of open beaches, despite criticism from some environmental and neighborhood groups. The 0.42 millimeter granule of sand is of good quality for fixation and the action must be completed with the restitution of the dune ridges, they added.
The solution of installing artificial reefs off the coast, as requested by some neighborhood groups, to stop the attacks of the waves in the increasingly frequent storms would have negative consequences on the beaches that did not have them. “It could stop the impact on one beach somewhat, but it would alter the contributions to another beach on a very open seafront like this one, creating another problem,” said Sanchis. On a more closed and delimited beach it could be a solution that works, but this case is different, he added. In addition, some reefs break off and generate other problems, another technician adds. The search for solutions to the loss of sand on numerous Mediterranean beaches is a recurring debate as storms multiply.
The technicians assured, on the other hand, that sand was extracted at depth in some mud bottoms to try to minimize its environmental impact. They pointed out that in that part they have not detected the appreciated and protected places of Posidonia, aquatic plant, endemic to the Mediterranean, whose Effects are similar to those of a forest by absorbing carbon dioxide, filtering impurities from the sea and producing oxygen.
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And how can the planned new expansion of the port of Valencia affect the regenerated beaches? The Government delegate responded that the expansion has already been done with its corresponding environmental impact declaration, in reference to the breakwater, which was completed in 2012, although it was not filled in. The technicians did not enter into the controversy over the possible impact of the project not only on the beaches but also on the Albufera natural park, as reported by environmental and citizen entities and parties such as Compromís and Unides Podem, grouped in the Ciutat Port Commission. They only pointed out that the erosion and deterioration of the beaches in the south of Valencia has been detected before the construction of the last containment dike of the aforementioned port.
The delegate also recalled that the work, with its different stages, has lasted between 9 and 10 months “of intense work.” With the completion of dredging and dumping on the beaches in the south of Valencia, the dredger will move to Denia (Alicante) where regeneration actions will be carried out with a budget of 19 million euros.
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