That raises the cost, said Rick Spadoni, the Coastal vice president in charge of Sarasota. Every time they bring a load of sand in, it is a 16-mile round trip with a barge. The federal agency most closely involved in beach renourishment is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is also charged with creating, managing and deepening the nation's waterways and channels. Holmberg claims that the deep channels the Corps cuts out to the sea act like downhill chutes for sediment, exacerbating and sometimes creating erosion on beaches up to 40 miles away.
Tides come in slowly but leave quickly.
Thus, when the tide goes out, the channels become effective sand carriers. Currents carrying sand up and down the beach intercept the outgoing current of the channel and are diverted out to sea. At Cape Canaveral, the Corps became the defendant in a long running class action lawsuit by landowners who claimed its work in cutting channels has resulted in their beach erosion. Now, the Corps is participating in a number of beach renourishment projects that are alternatives to dredging. In Vero Beach, the Corps is monitoring use of another commercial product called the PEP Reef, which involved construction of an artificial offshore reef.