Shore nourishment/beach nourishment

Shore nourishment involves adding extra sand, pebbles or similar to the coast to compensate for the loss of sediment caused by waves and currents. This reduces or completely stops coastal erosion and recession. Shore nourishment takes place as either backshore, foreshore or shoreface nourishment.

Backshore nourishment involves adding sand to the beach itself in order to compensate for the inevitable loss of sand from wave activity. Foreshore nourishment involves adding sand at a depth of one to three meters. The waves will then wash the sand up onto the beach and along the coast. Shoreface nourishment involves adding large amounts of sand on existing sand banks or establishing new sand banks. The objective is to force the waves to release their energy before they hit the shore and thus erode the beach and dunes.

This nourishment method depends on the nature of the coast, the desired effect and the financial aspect. It is important to carry out shore protection in good time and to look for optimised overall solutions. Shoreface and foreshore nourishment are most commonly applied in areas where the sand bank needs to be reinforced or where it is missing altogether, and where the level of protection is moderate or high. In areas where sand banks, beaches and dunes do not provide the desired protection, beach nourishment is the preferred method. When the beach is fed more sand, waves will wear away the material fed onto the beach rather than the existing sand dunes and cliffs.