Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1113313
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 MAY 2019 JAMES DEBONO THE complete disappear- ance of the re-nourished Bal- luta beach in February is not discouraging the Malta Tour- ism Authority from repeating the same experience in other beaches. But environmental consultants are advising the authorities to carefully explain the project to the public and the media, and make it clear that the temporarily enlarged beach will disappear over time. A project development state- ment submitted by the MTA's consultants ADI said the overall experience and the knowledge gained from the Balluta experi- ence was "useful" and that the MTA intends to put this new knowledge to good use at other locations like St George's Bay in Birzebbuga. Other locations where simi- lar interventions are planned include il-Fajtata in St Thomas Bay, and Ghar Ahmar in Mar- saxlokk, apart from "a repeat of the re-nourishment project at Balluta Bay". In fact, the Balluta beach ex- tension, which cost taxpayers €110,000, was never intended to be a permanent feature but an experiment to understand whether dredging sand from the seabed could be a more feasible option than importing foreign sand to extend beaches. It was also meant to assess the extent of stability exhibited by such a re-nourished beach without intervening on the coastal system "through hard defensive structures". Indeed studies published be- fore the dredging works were undertaken had already indi- cated that the beach would only survive for one summer. The beach proved to be very popular in a short span of time but heavy storms at the end of summer resulted in heavy run- off flowing into the beach from the existing rainwater pipes, which formed gullies in the re- nourished sand. Despite this loss, the beach survived and the waves and currents soon levelled it out again. But this experience under- lined "the importance of in- tervening on the landside in- frastructure to divert existing culverts and pipes away from the areas of re-nourishment." Monitoring of the beach af- ter it was completed at the end of July showed that the beach remained relatively sta- ble all the way to the end of February when the Maltese islands were battered "by gale force winds and huge storms, which wreaked havoc along most of the coastline." This major storm eliminated the re- nourished sand, "returning the beach to the state it was before the start of re-nourishment." This was still considered a significant set-back by MTA after the beach had held well throughout winter. "The extent of the storm was unprecedent- ed… and it is also not surpris- ing that a re-nourished beach would not withstand the kind of onslaught experienced on 24 February 2019." The MTA is proposing to in- crease the width of the sandy beach at Birzebbugia by re- covering sand from the seabed inside the bay itself. "Such a beach, if created, would not be a permanent feature, and it is likely that it would slowly be eroded over a number of months under the action of waves and currents and rainwa- ter run-off from land," the PDS stated. The MTA consultants insist that to avoid high expectations, the project should be "carefully explained to the public and the media" to make it clear that it is aimed at providing a tempo- rarily enlarged beach for the summer months, and that the beach is expected to disappear over a period of time unless the re-nourishment exercise is re- peated in subsequent years, de- pending on the extent of sand loss. NEWS Balluta beach experiment to be repeated in Birzebbugia CAREER OPPORTUNITY Lands Authority is seeking applications from interested persons to fill the following position: Senior Professional Officer - Lawyer Jobplus Permit Number – 131/2019 ESSENTIAL Qualifications In possession of a law degree and a valid warrant to practise as an Advocate in the courts of Malta and Gozo WE ARE RECRUITING https://landsauthority.org.mt/about-us/careers/ Experience Having previously worked in other legal roles will be considered an asset Interested persons are kindly requested to submit a letter of application and a detailed CV only by email, as one pdf document to: hr.la@landsauthority.org.mt by Monday 13th May 2019. Emails are to indicate the position being applied for and the name of the applicant in the subject. Applications will be acknowledged and treated in strictest confidence. For more information visit the link below: Consultants warn against raising expectations that reclaimed beach can be permanent MALTA could only just miss a cold outbreak from a very extreme and rare Arctic air- mass in mid-spring. The outbreak from the Arc- tic region has been shaping up over the week, with a poten- tially dangerous pattern es- tablishing itself across Europe. The very intense Arctic front is moving south across Europe this weekend and is expected to bring unusually low tem- peratures, snow and danger- ous frost into some vulnerable areas on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday across southern Eu- rope. Overall, very cold days are expected across the south of Europe, while it remains mild and warm across the Iberian peninsula. The cold outbreak started off on Thursday over north- ern Europe as a deep trough advected from the Arctic Rus- sia towards Scandinavia. On Friday the Arctic airmass spread across the Alps into the north Mediterranean and north Balkan peninsula with a strong surface cold front, like- ly resulting in snowfall at very low elevations. The long-wave trough is ex- pected to dig further south into the Mediterranean, while ridging strengthens over western Europe, resulting in a strong high-pressure system. Arctic airmass is continuing across the Mediterranean and should reach deep south over- night. Arctic airmass heads for south