She won’t sell sea-shells by the Black Sea Romanian shore any more, I’m sure. This could be the new realistic version of one well-known tongue twister. It is estimated that in few years from now Romania will not have seashore, because of an extremely intense erosion process. The beach itself seams a giant sandcastle, which cannot fight against the waves.

Experts talk about the worst situation in the last 80 years, as water swallowed 5-6 meters of sand, a rate almost three times than normal. After a snowy winter, the level of Danube highly raised and, consequently, increased the sea level as well. The beach did not have time to recover, as spring storms repeatedly destroyed parts of almost all resorts at short intervals, Mamaia, Eforie, Jupiter, 2 Mai and Vama Veche, being the most affected. Beside natural causes, this dangerous phenomenon was amplified by the lack of protection dams.

Romania has a coastline length of 244 km, managed by Romanian Waters National Administration, under the Ministry of Environment. The country looses about 83 hectares of national territory every year. Since the ‘70s, 24,000 hectares of Black Sea shore have disappeared, as Laszlo Borbely, the Minister of Environment, declared last month, quoting Japanese and Danish specialist sources. These erosion processes have led to a terrible situation, where areas of beaches which initially had lengths of tens of meters, have been reduced to a few meters or were completely destroyed. In some regions, the sea reached the foundation of various hotel buildings.

Authorities made a project to build dams. A submerged barrier, parallel to shore, located at 300-400 meters from the beach out to sea, with a value of 20 billion euros, built across the coast over the next five years could save Romanian seashore. But the project remains only on paper, as it cannot be financed by the state budget. Until now, only 134 million euros have been allocated to urgent measures, which could delay a little the extremely dramatic effects of the shoreline erosion. Meanwhile, tourists enjoy another summer season near the Black Sea. It could be one of the last in Romania.

Article and Photo: Diana-Adela Ionita/LaSpecula.com

(the 6^th of June 2010)