Protecting the Walcheren coastline against the sea

This June, Rijkswaterstaat started work on the beach nourishment project at the Westkapelle Zeedijk.

For the project, the contractor is using hopper dredgers to deposit a total of 550,000m3 of sand on the beach, between the Baaiweg and the Hogeweg.

“From the beginning of June 2023, contractor Van Oord started bringing equipment to the beach. After the preparatory work, the beachfill operations kicked off,” said Rijkswaterstaat.

Trailing suction hopper dredgers will suck up the sand from selected sand extraction areas on the North Sea floor, more than 10 km from the coast. They will then come close to the shore and spray the sand onto the beach via a pressure pipe.

Thanks to the beach nourishment the Walcheren coastline remains well protected against the sea.