Beach renourishment

With sea levels rising, renourishment of beaches has become a billion dollar per year industry.  What is this process and when is it a good investment?

Beach erosion is replaced by dredging sand typically from offshore to renourish the beach.  The process is costly several million dollars per mile on the typical shorefront.  With sea level rising at 3.2 mm/year this puts more and more pressure on beaches; which means more beaches need renourishing and the new sand may not endure.  Thirty years ago there was one renourished beach, Miami Beach.  Today on the east coast there are not many major beaches that have not been renourished.  A list with costs is provided by Western Carolina University. Below are some visual examples or renourished beaches.  The key to determining if it is a good investment is:

  • What is the duration of the repaired beach?
  • Does it prevent damage?
  • Value of real estate it protects?

70 thoughts on “Beach renourishment

  1. The beach renourishment needs to take place because the beach is eroding and there is a lot of decaying going on because there was a lack of support. This is important because we need the beaches to go back to the way were and get them repaired. That way they will be ready with more support the next storm occurs

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  2. The process of beach renourishment entails using sand to replace and restore beach territory that has been damaged by erosion. Beach renourishment moves the point of erosion farther seaward which gives more time before erosion destroys the beach. Although renourishment is a rather expensive project, it is worth the investment on beaches that particularly have expensive real estate. Miami Beach has gone through renourishmet, with high real estate in the area, it is important to keep the beach in good shape so it continues to attract tourist and its residents.

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  3. Beach re-nourishment is vital for beach tourism and the economy. Places like Miami, which thrive off their beaches, are constantly re-nourishing their beaches to maintain higher levels of tourism and economical profits.

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  4. Beach re-nourishment is when humans expand and fortify depleted beaches with new sand and other materials in order to prolong the life of the beach as well as improve the overall usability and monetary value of the land. It is a very costly process and is only a good investment if the re-nourishment increases the duration of the beach, is able to prevent future damage, and/or significantly increases the real estate value of the area.

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  5. When a beach need some more sand over time because of the water rising the town pays for more beach basically for more sand. The process is taking a portion of the beach out and putting water underneath it and then adding more sand on top of it to cover the area which makes it bigger. This is a costly project to do for the town and the beach, but most communities put the money into it to gain more tourist in hope of keeping them coming and getting their money.

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  6. I think beach re-nourishment is vital when the beach is a tourist attraction. If the beach is left in ruins, then the economy of that area will also suffer. Long Beach in New Jersey, is a common tourist attraction and left unfixed, would put a toil on the community.

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  7. Beach re-nourishment is a very vital process. It is where humans replace sand on beaches after it has been removed by other means of nature. The re-nourishment of beaches needs to occur when the beach can no longer protect itself or the environment around it. The re-nourishment of beaches also needs to occur when the sand to people ratio is no longer keeping anyone happy, due to their neighbors being too close.

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  8. The Beach renourishment process is dredging sand that you get from offshore that helps reconstruct beaches. It is a good investment for touristique aspect of the beach due to it re-filling the beach day by day with new visitors. As well as fixing previous erosion and storm damages. The negative aspect of renourishment are that there will be construction zones all over the beach and that we will lose some of our animals on the beach. It will also create muddy zones of sand all over the beach. As well as being a very costly project having to hire many different companies. Miami beach is a prime example of many beach renourishment.

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  9. I think that there could be good investments in beach re-nourishment. A place where is prone to hurricanes and flooding the beach can act as a buffer to help soften the damage. In that instance it could be a good investment.

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  10. Beach re-nourishment plans are set into place to prevent any further damage to a coastline. The re-nourishment process could take up to two months to complete and cost millions upon million of dollars. Sand is taken from other beaches and is placed on the widen coastlines and keep the beaches from retreating for as long as possible. Recently, Hurricane Irma hit, southern Florida devastating the Florida Keys as well as many other southern cities in Florida. For example, in Naples, Florida, a beach had retreated by nearly 250 ft from Irma’s waves and rainfall. Beach re-nourishment could be used there to get that beach back to at least half of what it was 2 years ago.

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  11. Beach re-nourishment occurs when the amount of sediment, or sand, is diminished on a beach through storms and erosion. Beach re-nourishment is a process of replacing this sand from other sources in order to protect the land from over-washing and storms reaching communities. An example of a necessary Beach re-nourishment is Myrtle Beach, SC. This was a 3.5 billion dollar project to restore the beach’s sediment. Although it is extremely expensive, it was a necessary 20-40 day process in order to restore the Myrtle Beach’s condition.

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  12. Beach re-nourishment is the process of laying new sand on a pre-existing beach to make sure that erosion will be kept at bay. Myrtle beach often goes through this process spending millions per year on providing a safely eroded beach. There needs to be a balance between the amount of sand present and the constant waves crashing along the beach. This process is the least damaging to nature, and it helps preserve the beach for further use. It works because it is a less expensive option than relocating and retreating further up the beach.

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  13. Renourishment is the process at which sand is replaced along beach lines where there has been a lot of deposition occurring. Once completing this process it allows beaches to be equal and balanced along the coast lines. Also it allows these beaches to withstand a lot more damage over time. In Myrtle beach this project helps protect 3.5 billion worth of shore front property.

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  14. When a beach is having a lot of erorsion caused from hurricanes and over the years of the beaten waves beach re- nourishment is needed. This is caused from not having protection to protect the shorelines. A time that this is needed is when you can no longer protect the buildings any longer and you have to push the businesses and houses back on the shoreline. You can only do this so far before beach re- nourishment comes in. One suggestion is building a rock wall to break the waves so they do not hit shore as hard.

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  15. Beach Renourishment is the process of dumping/pumping sand from elsewhere onto an eroding shoreline to create a new beach or to widen the existing beach but it doesn’t stop erosion it just simply a way to stall erosion by giving the erosional forces like waves and etc. something to hit temporarily. It is a good investment for heavily popular beach along with circumstances such as a threat to the wild life habitation. For example, marshland creation would help reduce the erosive power of waves.

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  16. The beach re-nourishment process uses sand to replace damaged beach territory. It moves the erosion point further seaward, delaying the complete destruction of the beach. I believe, the beach re-nourishment process is worth the investment, especially in high real estate areas.

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  17. Beach renourishment is a good investment at places like Miami and other resorts. Miami and surrounding areas have a combined GDP of 281 billion dollars according to Politifact. This is mostly from the tourist sector, so beach renourishment makes sense because the tourism industry is an extremely profitable and important sector.

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  18. Beach renourishment is when a beach is replenished with more sand after the loss of it over several years and a variety of events. For commonly visited and popular, this is a good idea considering the fact that the revenue made will pay for the costs of replenishing, but for smaller beaches, it is debatable considering how expensive the process is. The best way to help resolve the issue without needing to replenish the sand would be to build rock walls to protect the sand. It would affect the shore’s ecosystem but only in certain areas of the beach and would be a longterm solution to a commonly occurring problem.

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