Would it still be Miami Beach with foreign sand?

Miami Beach leaders are eyeing sand from foreign sources such as the Bahamas, as the domestic supply runs dry.

from the May 16, 2007 edition

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"There was a shortage before, but the beaches have become much more valuable in terms of their recreational amenities," says Bob Dean, professor emeritus in the department of civil and coastal engineering at the University of Florida. "Sand quality and sand availability are certainly going to become a problem."

Communities are willing to spare virtually no cost to revitalize beaches. Studies show they get back $7 for every $1 invested through tourist activity and other benefits, Dean says. Property values rise, and schools are the biggest beneficiaries as property tax collections grow. Meanwhile beaches absorb wave energy during hurricanes and other turbulent storms, mitigating property damage.

In Florida the state appropriates $30 million annually for beach renourishment, and with federal and local funding the amount balloons to $90 million, Dean said. In response to last year's dispute between Miami Beach and St. Lucie County and to moderate any others that might arise, state Sen. Dennis L. Jones introduced legislation calling for a public inventory of all offshore sand sources. The idea is to prevent surprises when one community moves toward an offshore source beyond its own borders. The measure passed this spring as an amendment to another bill.

"This is going to be happening all over the state," says Senator Jones, a Republican representing western Pinellas County, including Clearwater and St. Pete Beach on Florida's West Coast. "Just like we used to have water wars, realistically we could have sand wars because some areas have sand and some don't."

Since the 1990s Miami Beach has braced for a sand shortage. Local leaders organized workshops to brainstorm solutions and then considered trucking sand from Central Florida but found the process too costly and logistically unworkable. They approached Palm Beach County about an offshore source there but ran into the same political opposition they faced in St. Lucie County. Now they believe they'll face opposition virtually anywhere they look domestically.

Importing foreign sand is tricky, too. Miami Beach competes with the Bahamas for the same tourists. The city plans to avoid that problem by soliciting bids from dredging companies, giving them the responsibility of locating sand. Already the city is building rock structures to hold sand in place and organizing a plan to move sand from local beaches where it's plentiful to beaches that need it. It's worth the effort, Flynn said. The Army Corps of Engineers found that the beaches prevented $20 million in property damage during hurricane Andrew in 1992.

"People are starting to realize sand is a finite resource," he said. "People just don't want us to come up there and get their sand; quite frankly I can't blame them."

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