The El Vendrell City Council has begun the naturalization works in the mineral-medicinal water channel of Coma-ruga beach with the removal of the stone banks that until now channeled the flow next to the sand. The council maintains that the flow itself will redraw the course naturally and that it will maintain a depth of between 60 and 80 centimeters.
The intervention has opened a clash between the municipal bet and part of the local environment. While the government defends a less rigid beach, residents and tourists fear that the water will disperse and cease to be seen as a river, an image they say they have already perceived after the recent rains in Coma-ruga.
Roig warns that the riverbed could become a flood zone
Xisco Roig, doctor in geology and geography, questions the removal of the channeling if the municipal objective is to preserve the tourist appeal of a coastline greatly transformed by human activity. His main doubt is what will happen when the water loses the fit that the stone margins gave it.
"It could become a flood zone" - Xisco Roig, doctor in geology and geography
Roig compares the Coma-ruga development with other points on the nearby coast where watercourses of similar characteristics remain channelized. He cites the cases of Cubelles, Cunit, Calafell, and Torredembarra, municipalities in which these riverbeds have not lost their artificial channeling.
After the latest episodes of rain, some beach users had already expressed fears that the water would spread on the surface like a large puddle. That possibility is what fuels criticism of a work that modifies one of the most recognizable images of El Vendrell's maritime core.
The City Council removed the bridge and the gathering point next to the water
The municipal action is not limited to the stone margins. The City Council has also removed the point where people gathered at the exit of the channel and has removed the wooden bridge that crossed it.
The local government justifies that decision by the continued presence of groups next to the water flow and by the will to avoid crowds on that stretch of Coma-ruga beach. The work is part of a broader intervention on the space immediately adjacent to the riverbed.
In parallel, the environmental group Geven from El Vendrell supports the general line of the project. The entity considers the removal of rigid elements and also the elimination of rainwater in the area to be positive.
"Anything that involves eliminating hard structures and eliminating rainwater is fantastic" - Geven from El Vendrell, environmental group
The organization adds other requests for the beach environment. Among them is the removal of palm trees in poor condition and the planting of trees and native flora to accompany the transformation of the space.
By calendar, the works are scheduled for completion at the end of next June on Coma-ruga beach.