Seaweed cleaning has already started at Praia do Carvoeiro

It will be more difficult to clean the beach at Vale Centeanes, where the machines do not reach

Cleaning work in Carvoeiro – Photo: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

The hundreds of cubic meters of brown algae that the storm earlier this week deposited on the sands of Praia do Carvoeiro are already being removed, since this morning, in an operation by the Lagoa City Council.

The works are being carried out by an excavator with caterpillars, in order to be able to move over the sand of the beach, which collects the algae and deposits them in a dumper, which then transports them to the square, where they are collected by a second excavator, which places them in the two city trucks.

An operation with some complexity, which, according to councilor Mário Guerreiro, responsible for the Environment department, will last throughout the day and may even continue tomorrow.

«We had already carried out a preliminary assessment of the amount of algae deposited on the beach yesterday, but it is only now, when we started to remove it, that we are getting the complete idea. We have a couple of working days here… or more”, he explained.

 

Cleaning work in Carvoeiro – Photo: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

 

The trucks are transporting this material, in a «provisional» way, to the park where the monthly fairs usually take place, next to Fatacil, in Lagoa.

«We are spreading the algae, so that it will dry a little and lose weight». The final destination could be Algar, the company responsible for the treatment of waste in the region (a very expensive solution, given the volume of material to be transported), or, most likely, a farmer who will use the algae to create fertilizer, a solution that it was already used when, in June, the same natural phenomenon hit the beaches of Lagos.

It will be more difficult to resolve the situation in Vale Centeanes, where it is not possible to get the machines. On this beach, like the Sul Informação found on the spot, the beach is completely covered by macroalgae, and it is not even possible to sunbathe.

In addition, it can be seen that, by the sea, there is a lot of algae, which the sea may still deposit on the sand over the next few days.

 

Centeanes Valley, with the sand covered with algae – Photo: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

 

Councilor Mário Guerreiro told our newspaper that the phenomenon also affected, albeit on a smaller scale, the beaches of Caneiros and Pintadinho, on the coast of Lagoa.

«In Caneiros, the beach concessionaire himself cleaned everything, because it was not a very large amount».

However, at a time when there are still many tourists on the coast of the municipality of Lagoa, the seaweed cleaning operation on Carvoeiro beach ended up becoming an attraction.

All the movements of the machines are accompanied by dozens and dozens of onlookers, some of them potential bathers taken by surprise by the ban on the beach, where, since yesterday, the red flag has been hoisted… seaweed mountain on the sand, being calm and with an inviting air…

 

Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação

 

 



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