Can Southern California save its disappearing beaches?

Finding solutions for Southern California’s chronically disappearing beaches — and the money to pay for them — is no easy task.This is the third story in a series looking at sand erosion issues in Southern California.Beach erosion, largely driven by the force of the ocean and a failure to resupply sand, is changing the character of some coastal communities — possibly forever.A beach city struggles with sand loss, putting a railroad, recreation and the town’s identity at risk.

In 2021, the United States experienced 20 extreme weather and climate-related disasters costing $145 billion — the third-costliest year on record. And it could get worse — research shows that with sea level rise and increasing development in coastal areas, the annual cost of flooding in the nation will jump by more than 26% by 2050.

“State people assume the local communities will come up with some of the money and local communities want the state to pay,” King said of more locally derived plans. “We really haven’t had a good conversation as to who will pay.” “We’re not making the public investment in it, we’re not saying this is really valuable,” Pratt said of preserving sandy beaches, pointing out that nobody wants to visit a cobble beach or rock revetment. “There’s going to be a loss to city coffers and local business if we don’t . It just hasn’t been a priority.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Boating and Waterways in recent years has been giving grants to beach communities in need, including $11.5 million for a restoration project in Encinitas and Solana Beach, $2.9 million for a sand replenishment project in north Orange County and another $1.08 million for San Clemente’s upcoming beach restoration project.

“There’s just so many regulations, green tape,” King said. “They’ve created all these regulations to stop development. But it also stops green progress.” But UC Irvine civil engineering professor Brett Sanders argues sand replenishment sometimes gets a bad rap. Without sand solutions, some coastal wildlife won’t have places to go.

In the four most urbanized coastal counties — Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego — 33% of the shoreline is armored. While permits from the Coastal Commission typically are issued on a temporary basis, the rocks that are piled are rarely removed. Groin jetties north of the Newport Beach Pier. The groin jetties – eight piles of rocks sticking out like fingers into the ocean – were put in place in the 1960s to keep sand from being chopped away and shifting down the coast during big winter storms.

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