Restoring beaches

In recent years a number of techniques have been developed to replace lost sand on eroded beaches. Nourishing beaches, as this is euphemistically called, involves the dredging up of sand or shingle from one location, or the transfer of desert sand from land locations, and its strategic positioning along eroded beach fronts to restore lost beach areas.

About three-quarters of the world's beaches are being washed away. Some of this is natural, such as from normal shifting of sands or at geologically sinking coastlines. However, this is increasingly being caused by human activity, the construction of piers and sea walls which seriously disrupt the delicate balance of coasts.

At the seaside resort of Eastbourne on the English east coast, local authorities have been using dredged shingle from the Isle of Wight to restore the off-coast strand. In the USA beach nourishment is estimated to cost $200 million a year.

The Island of Captiva, which was almost cut in two by beach erosion in the 1970's, spent an estimated $9 million nourishing its beach fronts only to find the new sand completely lost some ten years later.