A review of methods for constructing coastal recreational facilities in Egypt (Red Sea)

The Red Sea coast of Egypt has seen major resort facilities created over the last 20 years. Improper designs and non-environmentally friendly sea shore recreation facilities have been constructed by some developers, such as hard structures; earth embankment jetties; digging lagoons and placing landfill, all creating harmful impacts on the coastal ecosystem. The impacts of these illegal facilities include changing the depositional-hydrodynamic regime, as a result of blocking littoral currents by protruding structures; creating down-drift erosion to the neighboring beaches, deteriorating water quality and changing the marine biota. Moreover, these actions usually put additional costs on developers either in the form of fines or as direct restoration costs. This study illustrates best practice examples that better interface with the coastal system of the Red Sea. It reports on environmentally friendly solutions to deal with problems associated with wide fringing reef, water-intake effluent, rocky and elevated cliff beaches. In addition, it provides alternate solutions for the currently popular “artificial lagoons” proposed by investors. The protective response of pronounced reef features against waves is discussed in relation to implementing central marinas or artificial beaches in the shelter zone of the reef. It shows how tide-induced sea–groundwater interaction into beach sediment overlaying reef surfaces can be exploited to release brine from artificial lagoons, discharging from local desalination plants, instead of direct discharging into the sea. The lessons learned from this study indicate that detailed shoreline and bathymetric surveys associated with basic hydrodynamic measurements of a coastal area are crucial. They are fundamental in identifying natural beaches and seabed features that could be used, but preserved, for the benefits of coastal development.