Beach Nourishment and Protection (1995) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-13
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From page 1... ...
These structures can reduce flooding hazards, armor the coastline, reduce wave attack, and stabilize the beach. None of these shore protection structures, however, adds sand to the beach system to compensate for natural erosion.
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From page 2... ...
Opponents often view the sacrificial aspect of beach nourishment as little more than building sand castles to protect against an advancing sea. The controversy over the technical merits of beach nourishment has been exacerbated by national concerns over the economic effects of beach restorations, the appropriate way in which to account for flood protection benefits derived from a beach nourishment project or program (a series of beach nourishment projects)
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From page 3... ...
DOES BEACH NOURISHMENT WORK? Beach nourishment is a viable engineering alternative for shore protection and is the principal technique for beach restoration; its application is suitable for some, but not all, locations where erosion is occurring.
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From page 4... ...
The federal share needs to appropriately incorporate any adverse erosion impacts of federal navigation projects on nearby and downdrift shorelines. Cost-Benefit Analysis The theory and methodology for conceptualizing and measuring costs and benefits are well developed but are not systematically applied for the valuation of beach nourishment projects.
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From page 5... ...
Improving Cost-Benefit Analysis The USACE could improve the basis for economic evaluation of beach nourishment projects by reassessing the categories of costs and benefits that God+ inclusion in project evaluation, incorporating uncertainties in assessing costs and benefits both with and without the project, investigating behavioral responses stimulated by beach nourishment projects and associated policy issues, considering the coupling of projects with local growth and land-use plans to increase the net benefits of projects, and designing incentive-based financing schemes. Postconstruction economic surveys to identify and quantify the full range of costbenefit components should also be conducted to establish a more complete and accurate measure of the actual costs and benefits.
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From page 6... ...
The Shore Protection Manual published by the USACE is technologically outdated; yet it remains the de facto standard for coastal engineering, including the design of beach nourishment projects, throughout most of the world. Engineers in private practice in the United States are compelled to continue using it because of strong legal constraints and liability considerations even though the USACE no longer uses the manual as its design standard.
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From page 7... ...
Availability of Nourishment Material Increasing demands for sand, both for nourishment projects and for other uses, will make it increasingly difficult to predict the price at which sand will be available in the future. This uncertainty is of particular concern to beach nourishment programs because of the need to plan for a series of renourishment projects over a long time and because of the difficulties in predicting costs and benefits over a program's life.
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From page 8... ...
Beach nourishment programs should be planned as part of an overall regional beach management plan in which all involved participants undertake appropriate action to ensure that the process used for planning, design, and approval of projects achieves this objective. Economic analyses commonly show that a broad range of potential projects produces positive and comparable cost-benefit ratios; yet a single project width that provides maximum net benefits is typically selected as the federal National Economic Development (NED)
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From page 9... ...
Procedural delays caused by locating appropriate sources, obtaining permits, and contracting for construction can further jeopardize endangered buildings. Project sponsors should develop contingency plans for emergency repair as an integral element of each beach nourishment program.
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From page 10... ...
and their effects on project performance, process-based cross-shore sediment transport models related to profile changes, and the causes of erosional hot spots. An intensive research monitoring study for a few largescale beach nourishment projects should be undertaken by a third party under federal sponsorship in order to test the validity of and improve predictive methods and design assumptions.
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From page 11... ...
However, the use of traditional shore protection measures without adequate attention to their effects on physical processes within local littoral cells has contributed to a widespread but technically inaccurate public perception about the relationship of fixed structures to beach erosion. Misconceptions about traditional shore protection structures have resulted in prohibitions on their use in a few coastal states, to the detriment of beneficial applications of the technology.
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From page 12... ...
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF BEACH NOURISHMENT IN FLOOD PROTECTION AND DISASTER ASSISTANCE? Flood Protection Beach nourishment projects located seaward of upland buildings reduce storm damage relative to the level of protection that would exist otherwise.
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From page 13... ...
its Flood Insurance Rate Maps to show a widened beach stemming from a beach nourishment project designated as an "engineered project." The increased level of protection that is provided by beach nourishment projects and programs reduces risk and supports a reduction in National Flood Insurance Program premiums. Unlike the more permanent effects of lowered construction standards, premiums can be adjusted to accommodate subsequent changes in the level of protection.
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