Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
It has been estimated that the amount of sediment placed on United States
beaches by all forms of nourishment is of the order of half a billion m
3
(Trembanis
et al.
1999
; Campbell and Benedet
2006
). By 2006 there were more than 200 renour-
ished areas, and since the Coney Island project in the 1920s 9 million m
3
of sediment
per year has been deposited on United States beaches (Campbell and Benedet
2006
).
Beach renourishment has been most extensive on the barrier islands of the east
coast of the United States (Trembanis et al.
1999
), where by 1999 there had been
573 episodes of beach renourishment on 154 barrier island beaches (Valverde
et al.
1999
). In 1995 Pilkey had suggested that all the major coastal communities
of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States coast had nourished beaches, or soon
would have (Pilkey
1995
).
One successful beach renourishment project was that on Miami Beach (Sect.
revitalised Miami's international tourist industry (Finkl
1981
). The project remains
the most durable of any beach renourishment project in the United States (Finkl
and Walker
2004
).
States with severe beach erosion tend to have more comprehensive approaches
to beach nourishment projects with established policies and funding mecha-
nisms, although the majority of coastal states have at least some form of beach
nourishment policy (NOAA
2000
). An example is the Massachusetts Department
of Environmental Protection's 'Beach Nourishment: Guide to Best Management
Practices for Projects in Massachusetts' (MassDEP
2007
).
The majority of renourishment works have been federally funded for the pur-
poses of erosion control and flood mitigation, but some also undertaken for rec-
reation purposes and for the beneficial use of dredged sediment from navigation
channels. The federally funded processes have a standardised design that follows
the guidelines in the Coastal Engineering Manual (USACE
2002
), while non-
federal funded projects are constructed by local governments and private owners,
often with differing designs (Campbell and Benedet
2006
).
Initial construction volumes of beach nourishment projects in the US range
from 150 to 600 m
3
per metre (Campbell and Benedet
2006
). Many are periodic,
either to offset continuing erosion following renourishment, or as part of a long-
term strategy. Delray Beach on the south east coast of Florida has been periodically
renourished with five episodes of sand placement in 20 years (Hartog et al.
2008
).
7.2 Australia and New Zealand
Beach erosion has become widespread in Australia, and in many places state and
local government agencies have introduced beach renourishment projects. These
have been principally for the protection of public infrastructure, private property
and beach amenity, and are generally undertaken as part of coastal management
plans. Eroding beaches have been renourished, particularly in coastal urban cen-
