One of the best examples of how the Working with Nature approach relies on sustainable management is provided by the confined disposal facilities of the Port of Seville.
These confined disposal facilities are areas where the Port Authority has deposited the sediments dredged from the navigation channel during the maintenance campaigns. The new protocol that the Port Authority is applying was developed by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas to establish alternative areas for the wetland bird population in the Doñana region.
This protocol includes measures for the morphological formation of the confined disposal facilities and for managing the water cover. Once the sediments have been extracted, the sustainable management protocol explains how to distribute the materials in the confined disposal facilities to improve the biodiversity. One the one hand, it defines the form of these spaces to create more protected areas for the birds and proposes the creation of internal dikes and islets to offer more protection from predators.
On the other, it includes steps for the installation of sluices to ensure a minimum layer of water in the confined disposal facilities during the breeding season. This means that the birds will have alternative wetlands when there is little rainfall, during the spring and summer.
The Port of Seville is the first in Spain to balance the management of the sediments dredged in maintenance work with the creation of a habitat for aquatic bird life.
