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Beach nourishment projects are on DNREC’s New Year’s resolution list

Delaware Public Media

DNREC plans to begin beach nourishment projects in early January.

DNREC’s Shoreline and Waterway Management Section will be doing the work in Pickering Beach, Kitts Hummock, Bowers, South Bowers, and Slaughter Beach.

The beach nourishment projects introduce sand onto the shoreline system to offset the effects of erosion.

"This is a response to erosion that happens slowly over the years and also some more erosion that happened during storm events in October and November of this year. Those storms affected all of our bay beach communities but particularly hit these five areas pretty hard, and so we're going to try to fortify some of the worst erosion from those storms," said Jesse Hayden, DNREC’s Shoreline and Waterway Management Section Administrator.

Beaches and dunes are natural lines of defense between the Delaware Bay and inland public and private infrastructure including houses and roads.

Most of the planned work will consist of delivering and spreading truck-hauled sand fill from clean inland sources.

"In Pickering Beach, Kitts Hummock, Bowers, and Slaughter Beach we'll be trucking sand from an inland source to add to the beach, and South Bowers will benefit from sands dredged from the Murderkill River and entrance channel a little bit later in the year," said Hayden.

All work must be completed by April 15, except Slaughter Beach where work needs to be finished by March 1 to avoid adverse impacts to fish and wildlife.

Joe brings over 20 years of experience in news and radio to Delaware Public Media and the All Things Considered host position. He joined DPM in November 2019 as a reporter and fill-in ATC host after six years as a reporter and anchor at commercial radio stations in New Castle and Sussex Counties.