Construction is under way to stabilise the natural pools on Isla and ensure swimmers’ safety
• The mayor of Arnuero thanks the Government Delegate and the Coastal Areas Department in Cantabria for responding to the request made by the Town Hall by carrying out works that have helped to consolidate this space
• The work, carried out with the help of professional divers, will reverse the loss of foundation in the central section of the outer wall, with an intervention close to €230,000
Arnuero, 6 November 2024.— This Wednesday, the Government Delegate in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, and the mayor of Arnuero, José Manuel Igual, visited the reinforcement works on the natural pools located next to Sable beach, an intervention being carried out by the Coastal Areas Office to improve the safety of the infrastructure.
The action is being carried out after municipal technical services identified that the outer wall of the pools had lost its foundation in the central section, remaining supported only on the ends on the surrounding rocky mass. To remedy this situation, the gap between the wall base and the rocky substrate has been filled by underpinning with concrete.
“ We have responded to the Town Hall’s request to secure these natural pools, which are a much-valued space for local residents and visitors to the area. With this intervention, which will be completed this very week, we guarantee swimmers’ safety and preserve a natural setting of great tourist and recreational value,” Gómez de Diego said.
For his part, the mayor of Arnuero, José Manuel Igual, thanked the Coastal Areas Office for meeting the demand raised by the Town Hall. “For us, this was a concern. Now, these pools will be better prepared to welcome residents and tourists—something fundamental for a municipality so closely linked to the sea like ours,” he highlighted.
At the visit, along with the Government Delegate and the mayor, the head of the Coastal Areas Office, José Antonio Osorio; technicians from this organisation; members of the Municipal Corporation; and those responsible for the company carrying out the work were also present.
Investment of more than €230,000
The project included dredging tasks to clean the sand accumulated in the area, as well as the installation of shuttering and the concreting of the wall base, with the aim of providing long-lasting stability. These works, which required the intervention of professional divers, were carried out with a budget of €230,535.70, funded by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, and with an initial execution period of three months.
However, thanks to favourable sea conditions, the operatives will complete the intervention this very week, earlier than planned.
It was in 2019 that work began to convert Isla’s former lobster hatcheries into natural pools, an initiative by the Town Hall funded with slightly more than €300,000 by the Government of Spain, which has generated a great deal of interest. In addition, as a complementary measure to this action, the green and seating areas were expanded, and an exhibition area was created on the history of these hatcheries, where the people of the sea are also honoured through a monument.
