BEACH MAINTENANCE AND NOURISHMENT WITH DREDGED SANDS ON TRóIA PENINSULA, PORTUGAL

The beaches on PortugueseTróia Peninsula have been intensively eroded for more than ten years. Waves have gradually washed away some of the ancient Roman constructions which have stand there for tens of thousands years. From 2006 to 2007, the Portuguese authorities carried out a large project. 286, 000 m³of sand were dredged from the port waterway and nourished onto the beach and a beach rehabilitation project was then initiated. As the results, dry beach is widened, the ancient Roman ruins restablized and tourism developed. This is not only a perfect and efficient beach maintenance project, but also a conservation project. The use of dredged sand not only reduced transportation costs, but also saved the budget for purchase water areas for sand throwing.There are a lot of port and waterway in China. At least 800 million m³ of sand are dredged every year. However, they are seldom used for beach maintenance. On the contrary, land sand and adjacent estuary sand are purchased for beach management. If the beach is maintained with dredging sand, the maintenance cost can be greatly reduced.We may save funds not only for purchasing sand, but also for purchasing the water areas to be managed. On the other hand, the normal shipping environment will not be effected.