Published
Video duration:
2 min
Environment: faced with coastal erosion, technology helps the coasts
Environment: faced with coastal erosion, technology helps the coasts – (France 2)
Faced with the erosion of the Atlantic coast, more and more municipalities are adopting geotube technology, which helps reduce the waves hitting the beaches.
From the English Channel to Brittany, via the Atlantic coast, the cliffside houses are ready to fall into the sea, and the dunes are eaten away by the violence of the waves. 242 municipalities now have to deal with marine erosion. After trying in vain to block attacks from the sea for years, they are now using new technologies. In the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, 40 meters of tubes line the bottom of the port of Sainte-Maxime (Var).
10 cities have installed tubes
“Geotubes are large socks (…) which are filled with sand and which serve as a swell breaker to prevent beaches from being cleared of sand”, explains Jérôme Solesio, Geocorail project manager. He is responsible for powering them up. The electricity passing through it creates a chemical reaction on contact with seawater. The calcium and magnesium are captured and solidify the tube, making it as resistant as concrete. The waves then no longer break on the beach. 10 cities have already equipped themselves with this breakwater. But it is not possible to install it everywhere.
