North County cities expand beaches before summer season
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DEL MAR, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — The North County coastline looks and feels a little different, thanks to the expansion of some beaches just in time for the summer season.
“Like, wow, this is actually really soft and it’s great for the kids to run around on,” said San Diego resident, Jordan Herzog.
The Encinitas-Solana Beach Sand Replenishment Project has brought 700,000 cubic yards of sand onto Solana Beach and 340,000 cubic yards of sand onto the beaches in Encinitas.
The construction cost about 50 million dollars with a 65 to 35 cost share between the cities of Solana Beach and Encinitas.
“I definitely think it was necessary,” Herzog said. “We don’t come here that often, but you can definitely feel a difference from different beaches that we’ve been to.”
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The project started in Solana Beach back in January, and wrapped up last month in Encinitas.
“I will say I’m glad the construction is done for sure like that’s probably the main thing,” said Encinitas resident Meg DiCarlo.
Now people are left wondering, where did the original sand go?
Pat Abott, a geologist, says the increased sand loss is due to human influence, and construction is only adding to the problem.
Sand is also often swept into an underwater canyon south of Black’s Beach and doesn’t resurface. Representative Mike Levin says the beaches are losing sand for a number of reasons.
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“Due to the loss of natural sand sources, climate change, rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and severe weather events,” Levin said.
Now that the sand has been replenished in many locations, the coastal landscape of North County is changing.
Because the beach in Del Mar is now much bigger, the city was able to relocate the North Beach lifeguard tower. It can now be seen from the lifeguard tower headquarters for the first time in 10 years. By the Rock Piles lifeguard tower, there is so much sand that the piles of rocks it was named after are no longer visible.
The sand will be replenished every 10 years in Solana Beach and every five years in Encinitas.
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