The central Israeli city of Herzliya is reconsidering a plan to build breakwaters off its coast due to opposition from beach goers and water sports enthusiasts who say the plan will affect the accumulation of sand on nearby beaches
Zafrir Rinat. Aug 13, 2024
The Herzliya municipality is reconsidering a plan to build breakwaters off its coast and has set up a professional advisory committee to review the plan.
The breakwaters are meant to protect the coastal cliffs from crumbling. But they have generated a lot of opposition because they will affect the accumulation of sand on nearby beaches and interfere with water sports.
The committee will be headed by the city manager, Maayan Spivak. Its other members will be experts on the sea, the environment, tourism, economics and engineering.
Unlike Herzliya, the cities of Netanya and Ashkelon have been moving forward with their plans to build breakwaters, together with the government company responsible for preserving coastal cliffs.
A year ago, a plan to develop Herzliya’s beaches was approved that called for building seven breakwaters along 2.8 kilometers of coastline and adding artificial sand to the beaches. Its goal was to protect the cliff that runs along the beach, which has eroded and is at risk of collapse, while also creating a wide sandy beach.
But many Herzliya residents opposed the plan, as did environmental organizations and water sports fans. They argued that natural sand would accumulate between the breakwaters, preventing it from reaching the nearby beaches, and the beaches would therefore shrink. They also argued that a lot of trash would pile up by the breakwaters and wreck the view.
The committee is slated to consider alternatives to the breakwaters, such as adding sand to the beaches and using new technologies that would affect the environment less, with the goal of both protecting the cliff and preserving the beaches. One possibility is an artificial reef made of rocks, concrete or even a special kind of fabric (geotubes) filled with sand and placed on the seabed.
“We’re attentive to the residents, people who use the sea and environmentalists, and therefore we’ve decided to set up a professional committee that will guard the public’s interests against the environmental interest,” Herzliya Mayor Yariv Fisher said.
Eyal Fabian, chairman of the local planning and building committee, added, “Herzliya’s natural beaches are a natural resource of the highest order. We’ll work to find any possible way that would make it possible to preserve them as such, as well as the beaches north of them, while making the coastal cliff safe.”
The breakwaters were supposed to be built by the government company. That company, the Mediterranean Coastal Cliffs Preservation Company, has also been exploring alternatives to breakwaters in recent years, but is still building them in Ashkelon and Netanya.
Over the last three years, it has built six breakwaters in Netanya, and last week, it held a ceremony to mark the start of construction on six others along the city’s coastline. It is also planning to add around 250,000 cubic meters of sand to Netanya’s beaches, since last year, part of the cliff along its coast collapsed.
Plans for breakwaters are also being considered in north Tel Aviv and near Beit Yannai, north of Netanya. According to the company’s CEO, Ilan Lavi, “the project to protect the coastal cliffs is a national mission. The Herzliya municipality’s plan for the breakwaters and adding sand received our support at every stage of the planning process, and this is the optimal solution.”
Lavi added that the company and the Environmental Protection Ministry have both appealed to the Finance Ministry for funding to build the new breakwaters. But since Herzliya is now reconsidering that plan, “the company will reconsider its request to the Finance Ministry and the limits of its responsibility,” he said.
Nevertheless, the company “will continue moving forward on maritime protections for other sections of the cliff,” he said. “The rise in sea levels and the rise in the intensity of storms requires us to provide a quick solution that will be stable over time.