This night, we just began works to take sand to beaches named Sebastià, Bassa Rodona, Estanyol and Riera Xica. We are dealing here with an urgent action carried out by the City Council, to offset the reduction of sand surface experienced by the four beaches due to coastline dynamics, badly affected by spring storms that were especially virulent on the beaches near the center of Sitges.
This urgent sand nourishment started today and will cover the entire week. During five nights, trucks and caterpillars will work from 10 PM to 7 AM to improve the condition of beaches with 2.000 cubic meters of sand. The new sand received by the four more affected beaches came from a sand surplus existing at the beach named Les Botigues, and complies with all natural conservation and green standards.
Faced with the negative results provoked by the loss of an important sand surface just at the beginning of the tourist season, they City Hall of Sitges had two possible options. The first was to wait for the sea to return the sand carried away, and the second was to anticipate events and act with celerity and decision, to insure that the four most affected beaches could receive sand from other beaches in the municipality.
The loss of sand in some beaches near the center of Sitges –Sant Sebastià and Bassa Rodona are the most notorious cases– is a common mishap during most of the winters. If we enjoy a placid spring, sand regeneration takes place naturally at the beginning of the tourist season, and the sea returns all the sand carried away. But is the spring comes laden with storms, winds and rough sea, just as the current season, the natural regeneration is rather unlikely.
For this reason, at the City Hall we took the initiative and we decided to nourish the sand ourselves. The project was budgeted at just over 50.000€ and is assumed entirely by the City Hall. Too many elements were at play: success of the tourist season; economic impacts provoked by the lack of sand on the entire population; and the image of our coastline during the highest point in the tourist season.
The City Hall allocated a special item to carry out this operation that needed an urgent implementation. The Beach Department is performing an exhaustive following and if conditions make it possible, next week the four beaches of Sant Sebastià, Bassa Rodona, Estanyol and Riera Xica will enjoy a far more stable condition.
