Rijkswaterstaat will be working on Domburg beach from March to April 2025. To maintain the coast, dredging vessels will supply about 520,000 m³ of sand from the North Sea.
This sand is used to strengthen the coastline, ensuring that the Zeeland island of Walcheren remains protected against the sea.
Coastal Maintenance
The beach and dunes protect Domburg from the sea, but wind, waves, and currents continuously carry sand away from the coast. At Domburg, erosion is more pronounced because the coast protrudes slightly here.
To keep the coastline in place and protect Walcheren from flooding, we will replenish the beach in spring 2025 with sand from the North Sea.
The work takes place on Domburg beach, between the Hof van Domburg holiday park and the Strand 90 pavilion. During the work, the area is fenced off. The fences are moved once the sand is dry and firm enough to walk on.
Recreational Sand Fund
We carry out sand nourishments to protect the land against the sea. For the Zeeland coastal municipalities, there is also the importance of having recreational beaches with enough dry sand for residents and tourists.
To this end, these coastal municipalities established a recreational sand fund in 2022. Through this sand fund, they seek to connect with the regular nourishment program, aiming to preserve the beaches for recreational use.
In consultation with the municipality of Veere, the sand nourishment work at Domburg is carried out before the recreational season. This agreement with the municipality is part of a pilot with the sand fund, to see if sand nourishments can better align with the desire to maintain high-quality recreational beaches.
This pilot is financed from the recreational sand fund of the Zeeland municipalities. Normally, contractors from Rijkswaterstaat have 2 years to complete a nourishment, but this pilot opted for execution specifically in the spring.
If this approach leads to higher costs because the contractor has less flexibility in execution, these additional costs are covered by the sand fund. Rijkswaterstaat and the Zeeland coastal municipalities jointly evaluate the outcomes to determine if this approach can be more widely applied in the future.
More Information
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