Waikiki beach-renourishement, 2012. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
Despite being one of Hawaii’s most iconic beaches, many visitors don’t know Waikiki Beach is actually an engineered beach that has been filled with imported sand for decades.
Waikiki has been facing erosion problems for years, and Hawaii lawmakers are pushing a bill to restore it.
The earliest beach replenishment projects date back to the 1920s, but the first major recorded project was in 1939. The state estimates that approximately 300,000 cubic yards of sand have been imported to Waikiki beaches over the past 75 years, often mined from other beaches in the state.
Read Full Article, The News & Observer
Waikiki Beach Is Totally Man-Made And Disappearing. Can Hawaii Save It?Huffington Green (03-10-2015)
Waikiki Beach Eroding Less Than A Year After $2.2M Sand Restoration, Pacific Business News (Uploaded 01-24-2013)
A section of Hawaii’s famed Waikiki Beach is starting to erode, less than a year after the completion of a $2.2 million project to replenish the sand on about 1,730 feet of shoreline that had been suffering from chronic erosion.
Erosion Creates Dangerous Situation on Waikiki Beach, KITV, Hawaii (01-03-2015)
Over the past several months severe erosion has caused a concrete slab near the water’s edge at Kuhio Beach to become exposed. Beach erosion in Waikiki has been a problem for decades and has resulted in at least 10 sand replenishment projects since 1939. 300,000 cubic yards of sand has been placed onto Waikiki Beach over the past 77 years.
“Seawalls Kill Beaches,” Open Letters by Warner Chabot And Rob Young, (10-03-2014)
Scientists Urge Shoreline Retreat From Hawaii’s Eroding Beaches, EE News
Sea-level rise is a significant factor in the major shoreline change underway in Hawaii, where 52 to 72 percent of beaches on the chain of islands have eroded over the past century.
70 Percent of Beaches Eroding On Hawaiian Islands Kauai, Oahu, and Maui, USGS (Uploaded 05-08-2012)
Hawaii’s Beaches Are in Retreat, and Its Way of Life May Follow, The New York Times
Living on the shores of Hawaii: natural hazards, the environment, and our communities, A book by Chip Fletcher; Robynne Boyd, William J. Neal and Virginia Tice.
“Living on the shores of Hawaii: natural hazards, the environment, and our communities” addresses a wide range of environmental concerns within the context of sustainability and their influence on the future of Hawaii…
