This potential risk can be decreased by diluting the storm drain runoff in the ocean and not allowing it to concentrate in stagnant waters. For this reason it is important to improve the circulation at Kuhio Beach by opening the area to ocean waves and currents making the waters healthier for swimming. Today, Kuhio Beach is narrow and eroded. Twice a day at high tide more than half the beach is unusable because waves reach all the way to both old and new seawalls built on the sand. The beach is narrow at Kuhio for several reasons.
Seawalls now sit where once there was beach.
The crib walls close off the beach from the ocean and waves are no longer able to deliver sand, the lifeblood of beaches. Water splashing over the crib walls causes currents that carry sand on a one-way trip seaward out the narrow openings between the walls. Because waves cannot enter behind the crib walls there is no mechanism for this sand to return to the beach and the sand eventually settles on the reef. The new design will allow sand to return to Kuhio Beach rather than accumulating on the reef and degrading the surf breaks. Surfing will not be impacted by the new beach design.