Inaction in the face of the loss of sand condemns the beaches of Barcelona

Sant Sebastià beach, in Barcelona, ​​is one of the most affected by the loss of sandMassimiliano Minocri (EL PAÍS)

Barcelona has five kilometers of coastline with nine sandy beaches, the Port Olímpic and the peculiar baths of the Fòrum ―access to the water is from a paved platform―.

The last one to be included in the catalogue, in 2008, was that of Llevant.

Until then, the authorities combated the chronic loss of sand by extracting it from the seabed.

The central government is the one that has the competence in the maritime-terrestrial line and, since 2010, no material is unloaded to compensate for the effects of the tide.

Since then, the beaches have become smaller and smaller and previously unimaginable images – such as the beach bar on Llevant beach on top of the promenade because it does not fit in its traditional location – are now everyday.

Barcelona City Council has been warning of the critical situation for years, which affects one of its main attractions for both residents and tourists.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition - which has not responded to questions from this newspaper on the subject - has opened a tender to replace sand on the beaches in 2024. The municipal technicians believe that it will be a patch and that the countdown to its disappearance keep going.

Patricia Giménez, director of beaches at the municipal public company Barcelona Ciclo del Agua SA (BCASA), is very clear about what happens to the sand on the city's nine beaches: "Since 2010 we have carried out two annual studies and we calculate that sand has been lost. 50,000 cubic meters of sand each year.

In the first years a lot of sand was lost, from 2015 until now we calculate that 17,000 cubic meters are lost annually”.

BCASA calculates the evolution of the beaches with cameras installed in the Mapfre tower.

"Those beaches where there are less than 25 meters between the shore and the promenade, we consider that they increasingly lose their function and we have chosen not to place intermediate infrastructures in these areas," she explains.

This is the reason why the Llevant beach bar is not in the sand area.

In 2010, just when the last load of sand was made, the Llevant beach had an area of ​​27,000 square meters, today it is 11,000.

It is not the only beach that has lost ground.

Bogatell in 2010 had 36,000 square meters and today 15,000, Barceloneta had, and has, the same amount of sand as Bogatell with one particularity.

"We feed this beach with the sand that remains stagnant at the mouth of Port Olímpic, otherwise it would be even worse," says Giménez.

The three points where the most sand is lost are the beaches of Llevant, Mar Bella and Sant Sebastià.

All this information is shared by the City Council, the Generalitat and the Ministry of Ecological Transition twice a year at the meetings of the Integrated Management Plan for the Barcelona Coast (PGILB).

Some meetings in which, since 2010, the Consistory requests the recharge of sand.

The Councilor for Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition, Eloi Badia, assures that the ministry is putting out to tender the works and that the recharge of sand will be noticed in 2024. The sand is already here because, according to Badia himself, it comes from only a few meters inside of the sea, an area that, like the rest, is under state jurisdiction.

Until the recharge work is effective, the Consistory continues to improvise year after year.

“It so happens that much of the sand that is lost ends up concentrating in the mouth of Port Olímpic to the point that, if it is not dredged, it does not allow the entry and exit of ships.

This year we have managed to get 8,000 cubic meters out of there, which has allowed us to put patches on and distribute it”, warns the director of beaches.

Giménez maintains that the loss of sand does not have an easy solution.

“The jetties and breakwaters have worked and, without them, Barcelona would hardly have any beaches, but it is not the perfect solution.

In 2008, when one of the last dams was built, we verified that what we gained on the one hand, we lost in the quality of the water.

Even so,

Badia maintains that studies on climate change warn that in less than 80 years the Sant Sebastià beach will have disappeared.

“Our duty is to act and reverse that trend.

On the one hand, replenishing sand but, in addition, the promenade must be rethought and designed in the form of terraced terraces so that, if the sand disappears, the beach can be used in a functional way”, admits the mayor, who is committed to trying to delay the climate change and, at the same time, adapt to the situation.

You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya on