Several San Diego County beaches are losing sand. The natural replenishing processes have been blocked by development. Local officials want state and federal help to fix the problem. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce tells us the sand is vital for tourism and the survival of the beaches.
Bluffs in Encinitas and Solana Beach have been collapsing for seven years. The falling hillsides hurt beachgoers and actually killed one person in Encinitas. Both cities want to reduce bluff erosion by adding sand to the beaches. Adding sand would not only protect beachgoers it would replenish thinning beaches.
A pilot project six years ago piled sand on several county beaches. Now that sand is gone. Steve Aceti is the executive director of the California Coastal Coalition.
Aceti: The reason that’s happening is because the sand that used to reach the shoreline isn’t getting here anymore by natural processes. So we need to restore the sand through artificial means which is to find the deposits offshore that are out there, dredge the sand up, pump it onshore, bulldoze it around and rebuild the beach.
Aceti says a 2001 San Diego Association of Governments project that put sand on three county beaches reduced bluff erosion by preventing waves from pounding against coastal hillsides. But some of those beaches, like at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach, are now dotted with cobblestones. The thinning beaches allow waves to pound the bluffs. Homeowners on those bluffs are reinforcing the hillsides with seawalls and other barriers to keep their homes from sliding onto the beach.
Not everyone thinks replacing the sand is the way to go. The coastal programs director for the Sierra Club is Mark Massara. He says sand replenishment is a short-term solution.
Massara: Bought sand tossed in front of mansions and seawalls is a very expensive, very short-lived industrial development.
Massara says dumping sand on beaches wastes public money if it’s not part of a major restoration plan.
Massara: Removal of dams and removal of seawalls and reform of the laws that allow seawall development and a managed retreat strategy whereby inappropriately sited coastal development is moved back over time. That’s inescapable. If you buy sand without that larger set of reforms, you’re wasting your money.”
Massara isn’t the only one who thinks sand replenishment is a bad idea. The National Marine Fisheries Service and the state Department of Fish and Game say too much of the sand would wash back into the ocean, burying offshore surf grass and reef habitats that are home to marine animals.
But the Cal Coastal Coalition’s Aceti disagrees. He says the recent project showed that most of the sand stuck around for nearly five years. Aceti says the added sand also brought more shorebirds to the beach, helping the marine environment. He’s working with several county coastal cities to find money for sand restoration projects.
California officials say tourists to state beaches spend more than $61 billion each year. While Solana Beach and Encinitas continue to wait for a long overdue Army Corps of Engineers study on beach restoration, the sand washes away from beaches vital to the state’s economy. Encinitas Mayor James Bond.
Bond: The draw is coming to the beach. People buying a house, I talked to someone yesterday saying “we were thinking about moving to Encinitas.” I say good, the property is a little pricey here, they say “but that’s all right, I want to be able to see the water.” Everybody wants to be able to see the water and get down to it.
Bond and other local officials are meeting today with the Army Corps of Engineers to help get the sand replenishment project back on track. In the meantime, the sand that was dumped on 12 San Diego County beaches in 2001 has washed away along with state funding. A state agency that funded the public beach restoration program did not request any money for the program in the new state budget. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.
(Photo: Fletcher Cove, Solana Beach San Diego. MGN Online ).
