VISAKHAPATNAM: With the monsoon reaching its peak, coastal erosion, it seems, has made a comeback in the city and not only the morning walkers but also the tourists have become a worried lot. However, scientists point out that ‘erosion’ is a ‘common phenomenon’ during monsoons because of ‘cyclonic circulation of wind’ and ‘larger than normal’ waves hitting the city beaches.
Over and above the problem of erosion, the beaches of the city have another problem, pollution, which is turning the colour of the sand into black. Experts say that ‘untreated’ drain water that is being released into the sea at some areas is spoiling the tourist spots, turning the colour of the sand there into black. Across the stretch from Coastal Battery to YMCA, sand is turning black in colour due to drain water that is getting released into the sea from some areas in Kirlampudi Layout, Pandurangapuram, Daspalla Layout and a few other places.
According to some of the studies done on coastal erosion, the city beaches used to be much ‘safer’ in the 1970’s, than those were now, as the sea waves, especially during the monsoons, were not as high as those were at present. In a word, the sea used to be a lot more ‘calmer’ in the 1970’s.
Former chief scientist of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) VSN Murthy said that compared to the waves during the 1970’s, the current ones were stronger and that the coastal stretch of AP had diagonal tides. “For every six hours the waves rise high, almost two times (than the normal waves) and every 12 hours, the water level increases with tidal height reaching 1.5 to two metres. During Monsoons the tidal height is four metres,” Murthy said.
“Erosions are common during monsoons. During our study we have witnessed that there are red sands in the bottom area of the places where erosions are taking place and those red sands are getting thrown up. Black colour sand is due to the untreated drain water that is getting discharged into sea,” said Murthy. Further, though the beach restoration works are done regularly, yet sand input has become less likely due to the large number of construction works, the scientist said.