A huge carpet of sand can be seen from the Valencian beach of l’Arbre del Gos. Now things look similar to those in the 1960s and 1970s, say technicians at the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenges. This beach is part of the seven kilometers of coastline from Pinedo to the Gola de Pujol de l’Albufera in El Saler, regenerated with three million cubic meters extracted from an underwater deposit about 20 kilometers from Cullera. It is the largest sand transfer operation for this purpose ever 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, which is expected to be reduced to 75 meters by the natural action of wind and waves. In some sections the beach had shrunk to 30 meters, mainly due to the barrier of the nearby port of Valencia (stopping contributions from north to south), the loss of river sedimentation at the mouth of the Turia and the increase in temporary water volumes due to climate change. On the beach, the government delegate of the Valencian Community, the socialist Pilar Bernabé, assured that the action “goes beyond the simple exchange of sand, there is an expansion of the breakwaters to protect the beach and a dune renewal that will last until December 25th .”
L’Arbre del Gos beach, with the dune regeneration space in the foreground and the port of Valencia in the background. Monica Torres
And given the current climate emergency, how long is the regeneration of these beaches expected to last? Barnabas spoke of “several decade” or more. The head of the demarcation of the Valencia coast, Javier Estevan Sanchis, and other ministry technicians who accompanied him expressed confidence that the demarcation will last several decades. All defended the sand transfer solution for regeneration as the most practical and effective solution for a number of open beaches, despite criticism from some environmental and neighborhood groups. The 0.42 millimeter sand grain is of good quality for fortification and the operation must be completed with the restoration of the dune ridges, they added.
The solution of installing artificial reefs offshore, as demanded by some neighborhood groups to stop the attacks of waves during increasingly frequent storms, would have negative consequences for beaches that do not have them. “It might stop the impact on one beach somewhat, but it would change the impact on another beach on a very open coast like this and create another problem,” Sanchis said. On a more closed and demarcated beach it could be a working solution, but this case is different, he added. Additionally, some reefs are breaking off and causing other problems, another technician adds. The search for solutions to the loss of sand on many Mediterranean beaches is a recurring debate as storms become more frequent.
On the other hand, the technicians assured that in some muddy soils sand was mined at depth to minimize the impact on the environment. They pointed out that in this part they had not discovered the treasured and protected places of Posidonia. Aquatic plant, endemic to the Mediterranean region The effect is similar to that of a forest in that it absorbs carbon dioxide, filters pollutants from the sea and produces oxygen.
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And how might the planned new expansion of the port of Valencia affect the regenerated beaches? The government delegate replied that the expansion had already been carried out with the relevant environmental impact statement, referring to the breakwater, which was completed in 2012 but not filled. The technicians did not participate in the controversy about the possible impact of the project not only on the beaches but also on the Albufera Natural Park, as environmental and civil organizations and parties such as Compromís and Unides Podem, grouped in the Port Commission of Ciutat, to report . They simply pointed out that the erosion and deterioration of the beaches in the south of Valencia had already been noticed before the construction of the last security dam of the aforementioned port.
The delegate also recalled that the work, with its various phases, had lasted between 9 and 10 months of “intensive work”. Once the dredging and deposits have been completed on the beaches in the south of Valencia, the excavator will be moved to Denia (Alicante), where rehabilitation operations will be carried out with a budget of 19 million euros.