Sagunto to study smart buoys to monitor three coastal beaches
Sagunto city council unanimously agreed on 4 June to request that the national MITECO ministry and the Valencian Government study and co-fund a smart sensor buoy system for the beaches of Almardà, Corinto and Malvarrosa.
The motion was put forward by the People's Party (PP) and amended by Compromís and EU-Unides Podem before winning unanimous approval from all groups. The agreement calls on central and regional governments to assess installing buoys with sensors to track sea conditions, sediment movement and coastal changes. If state or European funding falls short, the council has committed to financing the project from its own budget.
The beaches of Almardà, Corinto and Malvarrosa — in the coastal district of Puerto de Sagunto — have been losing sand for years, and storms cause growing damage. Councillors argued that current beach-replenishment works are a one-off measure and must be backed by continuous monitoring. The motion also asks MITECO (Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge) to design structural solutions — artificial reefs or submerged offshore breakwaters — to stop erosion; these techniques dissipate wave energy before it reaches the shore and are internationally recognised as effective coastal engineering. MITECO is Spain's competent authority for managing the public maritime-land domain, which is why it is the primary addressee of the request.
Source: aytosagunto.es.