U.S. to Study Sand From Bahamas to Protect Florida Coast

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A potential solution to a troublesome sand shortage off Southeast Florida is tucked away in a massive water resources funding bill President Barack Obama signed into law last month.

The 2016 Water Resources Development Act authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to study the potential of using foreign sand, such as from the Bahamas, to widen shorelines and protect coasts from hurricanes.

In its “Shrinking Shores” investigation last year, the Naples Daily News reported Miami-Dade and Broward counties have exhausted their deposits of available offshore sand.

A federal search found enough sand to last 50 years, but beach project managers told the Daily News the sand is too dark and risks triggering sand wars with other coastal counties. Project managers said Bahamian sand is the region’s best chance to end expensive and inefficient sand hauls from inland mines.

But a ban, backed by the U.S dredging industry, on spending federal money on beach projects that use foreign sand stands in the way. Coastal communities can ill afford to forgo federal money for their beaches, the Daily News found.

Florida members of Congress tried again last year, unsuccessfully, to lift the ban.

The study provision in WRDA 2016 represents a compromise, said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Boca Raton, who co-sponsored legislation to end the ban.

The WRDA provision put no timeline on the study, but Frankel said she hopes it will be done by the next time Congress reauthorizes WRDA, scheduled for 2018.

“The Secretary (of the Army) is authorized to undertake a study of the economic and noneconomic costs, benefits and impacts of acquiring by purchase, exchange or otherwise sediment from domestic and nondomestic sources for shoreline protection,” the provision states.

“Upon completion of the study, the Secretary shall report to Congress on the availability, benefits and impacts of using domestic and nondomestic sources of sediment for shoreline protection,” it reads.