Study: Sand nourishment linked to fewer marine life
UC San Diego biologists who examined the biological impact of replenishing eroded beaches with offshore sand found that such beach replenishment efforts could have long-term negative impacts on coastal ecosystems.
Hawaii bill to restore Waikiki Beach
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. Waikiki has been facing erosion problems for years, and Hawaii lawmakers are pushing a bill to restore it…again. 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.
Is there enough sand to go around?
The sand we spread our towels on in visits to the Delaware beach towns was once at the bottom of the sea, before engineers pumped it onto the shoreline in a wave of beach replenishment projects.
Fairhope continues to fight beach erosion, AL
After a major beach replenishment effort in 2014, the city of Fairhope continues to fight erosion problems. The beach near the Pier Street boat ramp is losing about 10 percent of its sand each year. For the second year in a row, tons of sand have been lost at the public beach south of Pier Street. It’s an ongoing battle with Mother Nature.
Coastal erosion needs our attention
65 acres of Massachusetts coastline is carried away every year by raging storms and rising seas. That’s not a problem unless we build a house on the beach. Today, 40 percent of the commonwealth’s 1,500-mile shoreline is residentially occupied.
Beach work: The billion-dollar question for New Jersey
Restoring eroded beaches was a billion-dollar problem in New Jersey even before Sandy. Towns have added sand to beaches for generations, yet sand drifts. So if a town manages to keep a beach in place on one block, chances are the beach on another block will erode twice as quickly.
Piling sand to stop erosion ultimately made the land sink, study says
A new study underscores the unique difficulties Louisiana faces in maintaining its fragile delta and keeping the sea at bay: Researchers found work to replenish an eroding shoreline by pumping onto it massive amounts of sand itself caused the land to sink.
Save beach from renourishment
If we really value our beach and what it means to our economy, we should do more to protect it. With so-called beach renourishment (pumping offshore sand onto beach for protection) and the current Coastal Construction Line (development setback line), we are just toying with protection.
Economy Winner, Environment Loser in Renourishment
“One thing that locks you into renourishment is to continue beach construction and development as usual,” Young says as he stares at the five yellow CAT machines “The long-range or long-term solution is to have greater setbacks and to allow the beach to renourish itself naturally.”