The Sociedade Polis Litoral Sudoeste denied, in statements to the Sul Informação, a possible relationship between the works that took place this summer at Praia de Odeceixe and the result of the storms in the last few days in the sand of that bathing area located on the border between the municipalities of Aljezur and Odemira.
Polis Sudoeste claims "not to relate what happened to the interventions", rather attributing the recent allocation of part of the beach's sand "to the normal dynamics of the coastline, seen throughout the Algarve coast in the last days".
"The accusations that it was the aforementioned interventions on this beach that gave rise to the current situation are unfounded," adds that entity.
Last Tuesday, the 27th, the strong swell that hit the Portuguese coast "invaded" the beach of Odeceixe and generated a wave of concern on social media due to possible “irreparable” damage to the sand. But the seriousness of the situation was immediately denied by José Amarelinho, mayor of Aljezur, who told our newspaper that it was "a perfect lie" that the beach was destroyed. The mayor argued that what happened in Odeceixe «is not new to anyone», since «this has always been a very exposed beach».
Polis Sudoeste, in response to the questions sent by the Sul Informação, explains that «the works carried out near the mouth of Ribeira de Seixe and on the beach at Praia de Odeceixe, not being provided for in the Strategic Plan that frames the activity of Sociedade Polis Litoral Sudoeste, resulted from the need identified by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) , in consultation with other entities with jurisdiction in this territory, of interventions being carried out, in several points of the coast of the national territory, following the storm Hercules, in January 2014, with a view to restoring the previously existing conditions».
The intervention at Praia de Odeceixe was "motivated by the strong mobilizing/destructive and redistributing effects of sand, related to the abnormal phenomena of maritime agitation then verified, which practically flattened the small pre-existing dune cordon and pushed the sand removed by the swell to amount'.
These effects of the storm Hercules, recalls the Polis, almost reopened “the communication between the river and the sea, at the southern limit of the beach”, and obstructed “the communication at the northern limit”. For this reason, «the intervention was, in its essence, an emergency work (albeit with a temporally delayed execution) of restoring pre-existing conditions to the storms».
Polis stresses that the works, carried out at the beginning of last summer, and which were contested at that time, "consisted of the remobilization of sand accumulated in the intertidal zone of the beach, to the highest areas of the beach", in order to allow that the beach could be used for normal bathing purposes during the summer.
«Sand accumulated at the mouth of the river was also removed and deposited on the north beach of Odeceixe», on the side of the municipality of Odemira.
However, reinforces Polis Sudoeste, “at no time was sand removed from the dune area”, as the contestants of the work claim.
The “Project for Strengthening the Natural Flow System of Foz da Ribeira de Odeceixe and the Dunar System” was contracted by Sociedade Polis Litoral Sudoeste “following the guidelines, program and coordination of the APA / ARH of the Algarve”. The project was carried out with the knowledge and prior opinion of «all entities with competence and jurisdiction over the site, namely, CCDR Algarve, APA-ARH Algarve, ICNF – Department of Nature Conservation and Forests of the Algarve, Municipality of Aljezur and Captaincy of the Port of Lagos». All these entities, «unanimously, formalized their favorable opinion, without any conditions» to the progress of the work.
Because the bulk of the works could only be carried out at the beginning of summer, and to «allow normal bathing enjoyment», two of the actions planned at that time were postponed to the beginning of winter, «with the beginning scheduled for next December», announced the Polis. Southwest in the reply sent to the Sul Informação.
The two works that will now begin are «the implementation of palisades with the function of retaining sand, which aim to promote the formation of dunes, and the implementation of raised walkways for access to the beach, which will reduce the trampling of the dune».
The storm that has been ravaging, in recent days, the western coast of the Alentejo and the southern coast of the Algarve, in tides of living water, «there is a complete flooding and sweeping of the beaches during high tide, a common situation under these conditions of agitation at sea and sea», stresses that entity.
In the case of Odeceixe beach, «there was a partial overtopping of the restinga, a situation that unfortunately often occurs under these conditions» and which also happened on many other beaches on the Algarve and Alentejo coasts.
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