Chennai port container terminal viewed from Marina Beach. Photo: Vttn/Wikimedia Commons
New Delhi: Sriharikota island in Andhra Pradesh, home to the Indian Space Research Organisation’s rocket launchpad, is eroding thanks partly to Chennai’s ports, New Indian Express reported.
M. Srinivasulu Reddy, a controller at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-Shar[footnote]Formerly ‘Sriharikota High-Altitude Range'[/footnote]), told the newspaper, “We are experiencing little erosion, especially on the northern strip of the island.”
Based on Google Earth images and visual evidence from the ground, at least 200-300 m of the island’s beach has eroded in the last decade, the report said.
However, Nellore district collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu said, “Shar authorities have not flagged the issue of erosion with the district administration yet. We are ready to provide any assistance, if needed, in implementing anti-erosion measures.”
SDSC officials have requested scientists from the National Centre for Coastal Research, Chennai, to study the erosion and recommend solutions. The institute told New Indian Express that they will submit a report to SDSC authorities by June 2021.
“Coastal areas erode due to natural and human activities. Recent increase in low-pressure systems and changes in the sea levels have visibly erode Sriharikota’s coastline,” the team investigating the shoreline told the newspaper.
According to the fishermen in the nearby villages, the erosion at Sriharikota has been getting worse every year.
“The old pier bridges have been taken over by the sea. Shar authorities built new ones, but even they are under threat now,” a local fisherman reportedly said.
Sriharikota is located north of Chennai’s ports and their backwaters protrude on to the coasts of the island. According to the report, such ports create an imbalance in the flow of sediments along the shore and trigger erosion to their north. Beaches to the south, like the Marina in Chennai, receive more sand, which helps them grow.
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The Ministry of Earth Sciences declared the nearby Pulicat estuary an ecologically-sensitive area in February 2021. Sriharikota island separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal.
The area is particularly vulnerable to oil spills and erosion with the Ennore and Chennai ports nearby, the report stated.
Chandrakhar Babu told New Indian Express, “Since the area is ecologically sensitive, building hard structures like a seawall or groynes is not recommended.”
In 2017, scientists from the National Institute of Ocean Technology in Chennai had found a way around these conventional methods to prevent sea erosion, Gaon Connection wrote. They placed wedge-shaped artificial reefs along Puducherry’s coasts to shift the erosion further north.
Probir Banerjee, president of Pondicherry Citizen’s Action Network, told Gaon Connection,“Constructing a seawall or putting groynes is a reaction to an immediate crisis. It only shifts the problem elsewhere. A wedge reef is essential and has shown a beach can be protected and restored.”