Coastlines at Velsao, Arrossim face erosion; beach nourishment plan underway

Team Goemkarponn

PANAJI: Goa’s Department of Environment and Climate Change has confirmed that parts of the State’s coastline, particularly Velsao and Arrossim beaches, are facing erosion, based on scientific studies conducted by national-level coastal agencies.

Environment Minister Pramod Sawant said the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) was entrusted with preparing a shoreline change map of Goa, which has identified erosion in these two beach stretches.

“The Department of Environment has entrusted the work of preparation of the shoreline change map to NCSCM and as per the report, erosion has been observed at Velsao and Arrossim beach stretches,” Sawant said.

He added that the Department has also reviewed eight locations identified by Deltares, a Netherlands-based coastal engineering agency, for possible pilot projects. Some of these locations overlap with beaches already studied by NCSCM, the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) for beach nourishment, commonly referred to as sand mortar.

Sawant said the Water Resources Department had entrusted NIOT in 2021 with a detailed study of the Goa coastline, covering its behaviour, erosion patterns and sediment transport, under the World Bank–funded National Hydrology Project.

He further stated that the Goa Coastal Management Society (GCMS) has begun the process of beach nourishment by engaging a Netherlands-based agency and inviting expert scientists to Goa for a preliminary study.

“The study and the work for nourishment of beach stretches is being undertaken with technical assistance from NIO and NCCR,” Sawant said.

The State government hopes that the combined efforts of national scientific institutions and international experts will lead to long-term solutions to protect Goa’s vulnerable coastline from further erosion.