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A Cape Cod The city spent $10 million last year to add more sand to its beach and half of it is already gone.
Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, Massachusetts has an erosion problem, made worse by a pier at the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal that prevents sand from reaching the town’s beaches. nbc10 boston Report.
To address this problem, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers poured more than 300,000 cubic yards of sand onto the shoreline in a project that was completed earlier this year.
“The idea was that it would last five to seven years, but as you can see, about half of it is gone,” Bill Boles of the Sandwich Beaches Trustees told the local outlet.
Town Neck and nearby First Beach already lost 15 to 20 feet of new sand before the winter storm hit the shoreline.
“It’s a very popular beach and the city has invested a lot of money in the boardwalk,” Laura Wing, chair of the Beach Trustees, told the outlet. “I know the whole city wants to preserve it as much as possible.”
Wing said that although beach erosion is a widespread issue, the Cape Cod Canal “interfering with sand flow” is a “double whammy” for the coastal city.
Coastal erosion occurs when sea level risesAccording to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, strong waves and floods destroy or carry away sand and other natural materials.
NOAA says the extent and severity of coastal erosion is worsening with global sea level rise, caused mostly by meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets and thermal expansion of seawater.
“It’s one of those things where you can’t do anything,” David DeConto, Sandwich’s director of natural resources, told NBC10 Boston. “Any sand provides some protection to the city. You never know how long it will last. This is not a one-time placement of sand.”
The city gets some relief every five years when the Cape Cod Canal is dug.