Monday, Aug. 13, 2012

I witnessed a strange sight the other day—the lower portion of beach playgrounds buried—all but a few inches of them—in sand.  Not only was the play area buried, but also the entire level of sand along the beach had been significantly raised.  From where the waves hit the shore to the street was a good four to five feet higher than it had been!

That got me to wondering what the heck could’ve caused such a huge displacement of sand.  I asked some friends who live along those beaches and was told that dredging is the culprit.  For those unaware, as I had been, dredging is a necessary process that helps maintain the proper depth of boating routes, clear pollutants from the base of waterway floors and maintains the proper level of sand in those waterways.

Along the beach, sand is continuously drug in, wave after wave, from many miles out.  Occurring over a lengthy period, this sand eventually begins to pile up closer to the shore, which raises the water level and puts nearby structures at risk of being flooded due to the higher water levels. 

Machines called dredges are brought in to scrape that excess sand away and relocate it.  The dredged sand used to be transported a minimum of ten miles offshore—back where it belongs.  But…with the squeeze of the economy and companies and municipalities wanting to get more for their buck, this sand is now sucked up and then pumped through lengths of pipe.  And where does the end of the piping spit out the sand?  On top of the existing beaches!

This explains why I saw all but the top few inches of the beach playground buried.  Not only that, but the entire beach level had been raised four to five feet!  I asked my friend how long the process of relocating such a massive amount of sand took and was told it happened over the past year.  That didn’t seem such a long time to me.  But then I was told that it would take up to several years for the sand to be blown back into the ocean where it belongs.

Hmmm…wait a minute.  Doesn’t that mean the sand—all those tons of sand the municipalities dredged up—will end up right back along the shoreline?  And won’t that pose a risk, due to the raised water level, of nearby structures being flooded?  The answer to both questions is, yes.  So why would the municipalities dump all that sand on the beach instead of way out in the ocean as they used to?  Again, it comes down to simple mathematics.  It’s far cheaper to dump the sand atop the beaches than relocate it offshore.  Does that make it right?  Well…I’ll let you be the judge of that. 

As far as I can tell, none of the folks who own structures near the beaches in question are happy with how current dredging is being done.  And frankly, can you blame them?  After all, their beach topography is being drastically altered.  Why?  So the municipalities can save money.