Beach renourishment in the Surfside Beach area resumed Wednesday after bad weather earlier in the week forced workers to shut everything down.
News13 has kept you covered on the project all summer, but today the Army Corps of Engineers gave an in-depth look at how the process works.
Renourishment is a word you have heard to describe putting sand on the beach, but it’s not a very common word. In fact, it’s not even in the dictionary. And if you live in Surfside, with that unfamiliar word also comes unfamiliar machinery.
“There’s a lot of different types of equipment they use on this project to build the beach,” said the project’s manager, Wes Wilson, when the Army Corps took the media and community leaders behind the “warning” signs and barriers.
Project managers broke down what all the machines do, starting with the big, boat- like machine far out in the ocean.
“Essentially what the Hopper dredge is equipped with is a suction underneath the bottom of the dredge that sucks up material,” Wilson explained.
It then pumps the material onto the beach through a pipeline.
The big mix of stuff you see blowing out of the pipes is what engineers call a “sand milkshake.” The sand travels from three miles out in the ocean and gets blown onto the beach. It comes out looking wet and muddy.
“You have to mix the sand with water,” explained Lisa Metheney with the Corps. “So that it’s able to more easily come through the pipe.”
Then the tractors move the sand around. “Over time the sun will bleach the sand out,” Matheney clarified. “So it will match closer to what’s already here on the beach.”
And the big, silver machine that patrols the beach is called the Crab, and it basically acts as a check and balance.
“It rides up and down the beach, and as you saw it goes a little bit off shore to ensure the beach meets the profile that we provided the contractor,” Wilson said.
To sum the whole project up: “We’re finding good sand from out in the ocean, and we’re pumping it onto the beach to build berms to protect the people and properties the other side of the beach from storm damage,” summarized Lt. Colonel Jeff Palazzini.
Project managers said even with the delay earlier in the week they are a little ahead of schedule. They will finish the Surfside Beach/Garden City area by mid-September and will then move to North Myrtle Beach.
