The City of Carlsbad is doing its part to
make sure there’s plenty of sand on local
beaches.
Hi, I’m Steve Jantz with the City of Carlsbad.
Did you know that most of the beaches in Carlsbad
are not owned by the city but are owned and
managed by the California Parks and Recreation
Department?
And, to keep the beaches healthy and full
of clean sand, the city and state work together
with other local agencies to replenish the
beach sand through three different partnership
projects.
Changes in the surrounding landscape have
reduced the amount of sand that makes it to
our beaches naturally.
The beaches also lose sand (erosion) during
winter storms when waves carry much of the
sand back out to the ocean floor.
That means we need to add more sand to our
beaches to keep them from eroding.
Here’s how we work with local agencies to
make sure local beaches are full of sand.
The City of Carlsbad is part of a regional
effort to dredge sand off shore and return
it to our beaches.
The San Diego Association of Governments,
known as SANDAG, works with local coastal
cities and other agencies to develop and pay
for this important regional project.
A large dredging vessel will collect sand
from off shore under water valleys and pump
the sand to the beach.
About every two years, the Agua Hedionda Lagoon
is dredged by the owners of the power plant.
A dredging barge collects the sand from the
mouth of the lagoon that is then pumped over
to the beach.
Clearing the mouth of the lagoon allows more
water to reach the Encina Power Plant where
seawater is used to cool the Encina Power
Plant’s large gas-fired boilers.
This dredging project could add up to about
a half million cubic yards of beach sand to
Carlsbad beaches.
And The Batiquitos Lagoon is also dredged
every few years as needed to ensure the lagoon
is healthy for fish and wildlife, and this
provides sand for south Carlsbad beaches.
The process includes dredging the bottom of
the lagoon basin east of Interstate-5 to keep
it deep enough to allow for the tides to keep
the lagoon free from silt.
Another benefit of the dredging is that it
improves natural nesting areas for many endangered
bird and fish species.
The City of Carlsbad works on this project
with the California Department of Fish and
Game, which pays for this project.
So the next time you visit a Carlsbad beach,
you’ll know the beach sand is there in part
because of mother nature and in part because
of the strong partnerships between the City
of Carlsbad and other agencies committed to
preserving this essential part of the quality
of life in Carlsbad.
To learn more about Carlsbad beaches, visit
the city’s website or like us on Facebook
for city updates .
