Date Published: 07/10/2019
ARCHIVED - Bathing jetties could replace the sand at Playa de Carrión in Los Alcázares
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The Mayor of Los Alcázares backs the scheme as he looks forward to next summer on the shore of the Mar Menor
The massive clean-up operation in Los Alcázares following the catastrophic flooding caused by the “gota fría” storm which hit the Region of Murcia in mid-September is practically complete, with roads clear of mud and everyday life almost back to normal, but as Mayor Mario Cervera underlined during a radio interview on Monday attention is now turning to the damage done to infrastructures, buildings and tourist attractions, with the situation regarding the beaches on the shore of the Mar Menor a particularly pressing source of concern.
Sr Cervera reports that once again the Playa de Carrión has been largely destroyed by the floodwater, and that following years during which the loss of sand has been a constant problem there is now barely any to speak of between the seafront promenade and the water’s edge. The autumn may have only just begun, but already his thoughts are turning to the need to prepare for the start of next summer’s tourist season, and to ensure that everything is ready for Easter Week, which in 2020 falls in the first half of April.
One of the options under consideration, however, involves not a restoration of the sandy beach but the installation in its place of 900 square metres of bathing jetties to enable people to enter the water between the historic bathing station of La Encarnación and the Playa de La Concha. A preliminary design drawn up well before the flooding last month by the regional government department of Water, Agriculture, Farming and the Environment consists of a series of hexagonal modules forming platforms over the surface of the water, reminiscent of the design of the Cruz de Levante bathing jetty in Santiago de la Ribera, with three jetties reaching out to a point where the water is deep enough to enter directly.
Each of the jetties, if constructed, will feature pergolas to provide shade, and ladders will be installed to enable people to get in and out of the Mar Menor gradually. The head of the department in the regional government, Antonio Luengo, reports that the next stage in the project is to compile an environmental impact report, and with the scientific committee overseeing efforts to regenerate the marine environment generally opposed to replacing lost sand there are hopes that this alternative plan of action could be launched within the next couple of months.
Mario Cervera is among those to have voiced his backing for the scheme, describing it as being all the more necessary following “the worst flooding in our history” and emphasizing the environmental and economic importance of limiting the damage done to tourism in the municipality.
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