Where Sand Is Gold, the Reserves Are Running Dry

(Angel Valentin for The New York Times) Erosion at Haulover Beach Park in Miami-Dade County

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ, NYT
Published: August 24, 2013

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — With inviting beaches that run for miles along South Florida’s shores, it is easy to put sand into the same category as turbo air-conditioning and a decent mojito — something ever present and easily taken for granted.

As it turns out, though, sand is not forever. Constant erosion from storms and tides and a rising sea level continue to swallow up chunks of beach along Florida’s Atlantic coastline. Communities have spent the last few decades replenishing their beaches with dredged-up sand.

But in South Florida — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties — concerns over erosion and the quest for sand are particularly urgent for one reason: there is almost no sand left offshore to replenish the beaches.

(More here.)