The Guardamar Council has started dredging works in the mouth of the new Segura Riverbed where a build-up of sludge, causing a lack of depth, has paralysed fishing and sports activities for weeks.
The first step is to prepare an area where the sediment extracted from the Segura can be deposited, understood to be a municipal plot that is located a few meters from the port.
Dredging of the area will make the channel navigable again and recover its draft so that fishing and tourist vessels can once again begin to use the area.
The dredging got underway with the arrival of a floating pontoon and other equipment that “will be placed in the river, and will remove the sediment so that it can be deposited in trucks and then dumped in the nearby municipal plot”, according to sources in a statement. Although the term of execution of the works is calculated in three months “we will do everything possible so that the deadlines are much shorter and that the economic sectors that operate in the area of the mouth can return to normal,” according to the government team.
The dredging plans to extract about 30,000 cubic meters of sediment that has been accumulated by sandy contributions from the waves, the sea tides and the Segura. The draft is currently just over a meter when it should be between 3 and 3.5 mtrs
The cost of the operation is 300,000 euros and will be borne by the Guardamar Council so that there are no procedural delays and the dredging can be carried out as a matter of urgency so as to restore sufficient draft for navigation.
The mouth of the Segura is part of a protected area and the sludge removed requires special treatment, as these sediments do not always have the best environmental conditions.
