Kaua’i County and the Poipu Beach Resort Association are working on a proposal to bring 30 loads of sand to Brennecke Beach in Po’ipu. The sand would come from Mana and help to fill in the beach that was scrubbed
Kaua’i County and the Poipu Beach Resort Association are working on a proposal to bring 30 loads of sand to Brennecke Beach in Po’ipu.
The sand would come from Mana and help to fill in the beach that was scrubbed hard by huge waves generated by Hurricane ‘Iniki in Sept. 1992.
For the project, Kaua’i County has received permission from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to take 3,000 cubic yards of sand from state lands in Mana.
PBRA also is raising money to cover some of the cost to bring truckloads of sand to Brennecke, according to Margy Parker, executive director of PBRA.
Implementation of the project should come soon, Parker said, and the effort will help the beach become once again one of Hawai’i’s premiere bodysurfing beaches.
How long the work will take and its costs were not immediately known.
More sand, however, will be needed to bring the beach back to the condition it was in the early 1980s, when it was a pristine beach for boogie boarding and bodysurfing for residents and visitors.
The beach was ideal for those sports because of the abundance of sand offshore.
For the PBRA project, sand will be placed on county land above the beach to improve the viability of a “littoral cell,” which is offshore, Parker said.
“According to the Army Corp of Engineers, for the beach to build back up, you need to restore the sand so that it ends up back in the cell,” Parker said.
The expectation is that the trucked-in sand will find its way to the waters just off of the beach.
Brennecke Beach was in pristine condition before Hurricane ‘Iwa struck in 1982, ravaging the Po’ipu coastline.
Sand naturally returned to the point at Brennecke Beach, which was “two-thirds of what it was due to a healthy cell” before Hurricane ‘Iniki struck in 1992.
‘Iniki swept away sizable portions of sand from the cell in the water and the beach, Parker said.
Sand has returned, but slowly. In 1995, PBRA and Kaua’i County had loads of sand deposited on land above the high water mark as a way to “refill the cell” with sand, allowing for the recovery the beach, Parker said.
For the latest project, the county and PBRA are working with the Army Corp of Engineers to secure the appropriate permits, Parker said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
