New sand a Po‘ipu priority

Replenishing lost sand at two popular South Shore beaches is a priority aim of Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste’s administration.

Waves, rain and wind eroded sections of Brennecke’s Beach and Po‘ipu Beach Park during a winter storm, washing away a large volume of beach sand.

The beaches are a favorite gathering place for local families on weekends, and are a draw for affluent travelers visiting the South Shore.

The beaches have helped maintain Po‘ipu as one of the top resort destinations in Hawai‘i, according to Po‘ipu merchants.

County officials have met with South Kaua‘i residents to look at sand-replenishment options at Brennecke’s Beach, according to a spokesperson for the county Department of Public Works.

Kaua‘i County Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro said he would support any county administration efforts to replenish the sand in front of Po‘ipu Beach Park. The funding could be included in the county budget for the upcoming fiscal year that starts on July 1, Kaneshiro said.

“Po‘ipu Beach needs the sand,” Kaneshiro told The Garden Island. “It (the depletion of sand at Po‘ipu Beach Park) concerns me. It is a widely used beach. And now you look out here, and each time, you see more stones (that were once covered by sand).”

Several months ago, large ocean swells and currents took sand away from a coastal point in front of Po‘ipu Beach Park, and the sand has not returned, as has been the case for many years, Kaneshiro said.

The sand may not have returned because of the depletion of a “sand cell” offshore of the beach park, Kaneshiro said.

One option is trucking in white sand from the Mana Plain in West Kaua‘i, he said.

Kaneshiro said it was his understanding the new sand could help recharge the sand cell offshore from Po‘ipu Beach Park, allowing coastline sand to find its way back to the beach naturally in the future.

Council Chair Kaipo Asing said two replenishment projects have been conducted at Brennecke’s Beach in recent years, and wondered if a third might do the trick.

During a council Planning Committee meeting held last Thursday, Dr. Chip Fletcher, a University of Hawai‘i shoreline expert and a professor of geology and physics, suggested studies be done to track sand movement, and to replenish sand when needed.

Kaneshiro said Fletcher’s suggestions had merit, and that, if he could, he would take immediate steps to prevent erosion problems at Po‘ipu Beach Park.

From her point of view, Margy Parker, executive director of the Poipu Beach Resort Association, said some erosion has occurred at different spots along the coastline from Brennecke’s Beach to the western edge of Po‘ipu Beach Park, but not to the point of being an alarming situation.

She also said sand has gradually returned to Brennecke’s Beach after large volumes of sand have been taken away by blustery storms during the early months of this year.

Prior to the 1980s, Brennecke’s Beach was regarded as a top body-surfing beach in Hawai‘i because of its clean, peeling waves rolling over a forgiving soft, sandy bottom.

But the huge waves generated along the South Shore in 1982 by Hurricane ‘Iwa changed the break’s shape and bottom by vacuuming up large volumes of sand from the beach and shifting it out to sea, shoreline experts surmised at the time.

Hurricane ‘Iniki, which struck in 1992, inflicted the same damage to Brennecke’s Beach, with the depletion of littoral cells of sand located in front of the beach, according to Parker.

An engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ex-plained that the beach had been so depleted by wave action from ‘Iniki that it would take 50 to 100 years for the natural restoration of sand to the beach, Parker said.

To expedite the restoration of the beach, Kaua‘i County officials undertook a project to “soften” the vertical wall at Brennecke’s Beach in the late 1990s.

The result was the removal of an existing seawall and the establishment of a government-funded, sloped revetment at the beach, to trap sand and to protect Hoone Road above the beach from harsh wave action, Parker said.

Prior to the revetment project going up, Poipu Beach Resort Association foundation leaders received donations, particularly from Poipu Kai homeowners, to pay for the cost of trucking in and dumping large amounts of sand to help with the recovery of the beach, Parker said.

The loads of sand were put above the high-water mark of the beach to allow the ocean to gradually reclaim it, Parker said.

As part of the revetment project, Kaua‘i County officials also covered the cost of 10 cubic yards of sand that were added to the beach, Parker said.

Since that time, foundation leaders, through donations from homeowners and guests, have paid for the cost of putting in another 15 cubic yards of sand at the beach, Parker said.

“The Poipu Beach Foundation remains committed to assisting the county and the state in the continued restoration of beaches in the area,” she said.

During the meeting with the council Thursday, Fletcher said sand for beach-restoration projects can be taken from areas close to the coastline, or farther out from the shoreline.

The drawback of using sand from the sea is that it is discolored and may contain silt, Fletcher said.

And sand that contains silt and clay may not be the best kind to mix with existing sand on beaches, as the combination could create more turbidity in shoreline waters that could hurt marine animals or marine ecosystems, said Zoe Norcross-Nu‘u, a coastal processes extension agent with the University of Hawai‘i’s Sea Grant program on Maui. She also attended the council meeting.

Council Vice Chairman James Tokioka said the makeup of the sand differs from spot to spot from Ha‘ena to Po‘ipu, and that he hoped that any consultant hired by the county for sand- replenishment projects would be able to prescribe the right sand to use at various beaches.

County Planning Director Ian Costa said sand is available from Mana for replenishment projects.

Staff writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.