CONSTRUCTION work has started on a breakwater at the mouth of Molinell river in the Oliva and Denia area to protect and restore sand to Denia’s Les Deveses beach.
The beach has been hit with some of the Valencian Community’s worst coastal erosion down the years, with some sections having totally disappeared.
Machines are already depositing rocks following the river mouth perpendicularly so that once it is finished, the new wall can retain sand that disappears mainly during severe weather incidents like Storm Gloria in 2020.
The regeneration work means that Les Deveses lost its coveted ‘Blue Flag’ beach award at the start of May.
Residents of the Les Bassetes area of Oliva have complained to the local council that the work could harm the ecosystem at the river mouth and that the Molinell riverbed is part of the Marjal del Pego-Oliva natural park.
Oliva council however made no objection to the Coastal authority that has commissioned the €14.7 million project.
The new breakwater will be 470 metres long with the last 185 metres of it partially submerged.
Two shorter ones will also be built with the consortium behind the work aiming to create a sandy beach with a width of 30 metres- 70 metres less than before coastal erosion struck years ago.
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