A conference held yesterday on the Campus of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya presented the conclusions of various plans for the adaptation of ports, beaches and promenades, which stand out for their high vulnerability, with very high risks, especially for twelve promenades, and erosion and flooding of beaches, in which the threat to the three deltas stands out: Ebre, Llobregat and Tordera.
Regarding the promenades, the most vulnerable are those that have a height of less than two meters above sea level, along with others with an emerging beach in front of them less than 15 meters or in the case in which the areas behind The beaches are occupied by infrastructure and do not allow the dynamic evolution of the sand ridge.
In the port area, the study detects the facilities most likely to be affected by climate change and refers to the loss of operability of docks and piers due to the increase in sea level.
During the conference, the promenades were presented with preference for action given their vulnerability. Some are those on the eroded beaches of Maresme and others are more vulnerable in Garraf, Tarragonès and Baix Ebre. The study proposes five different scenarios based on the increase in sea level attributable to climate change. Due to the effect of sea level, it is foreseeable that the wave load will increase, which will require additional reinforcement of the structures.
31 walks have been analyzed and the risk in each one has been assessed. The study emerges from the prioritization of actions in twelve walks with a very high risk of impact. Vilassar de Mar leads this ranking, followed by Premià de Mar, El Masnou, Montgat and Sitges. The first four, all of them in the Maresme, have serious problems of overtaking waves and undermining of the bases of the structure. It is followed by the Riera de Pineda beach promenade and those of L'Escala, Llançà, L'Ampolla, Salou and Sitges.
The urgent actions recommended by the study, in anticipation of strong storms and in the event of probable erosion of the structure, are the placement of natural or artificial breakwaters and geotextile containers filled with sand (geocontainers) attached to the promenade structure. In the medium and long term, they propose protection of breakwaters to reduce the risk of sinking. It is advisable to ensure a resistant pavement and leeward drainage that helps reduce wave damage and consider reinforcing the structures with additional armor and greater foundations.
The study of adaptation to climate change of ports concludes that the greatest risk is the loss of operability of the docks and piers due to the rise in sea level, although the use of floating pontoons that can be adapted with relative ease is proposed. 82% of Catalan port facilities have a very low risk of inoperability at the docks. In the case of pontoons this risk is 68%.
Another risk detected in ports is agitation. Between 16% and 25% of ports have a very high risk of excessive agitation. The instability of the dikes, between 41% and 51% of the cases has a very high risk of instability. From the same study it is clear that 27% of ports maintain a high risk of sand accumulation in the mouth.
