$11.2 million beach replenishment complete

Rehoboth and Dewey's most recent round of beach replenishment has been completed, and the early reviews on the quality of sand pumped are good.

John Waddington, who lives just outside of Dewey, was enjoying unseasonably warm weather Dec. 27 by taking his three Golden Retrievers, Rusty, Reds and Rusty Jr., for a walk on the beach.

"It's not bad," said Waddington of the sand. "It's much better than the rocky stuff that was pumped last time."

Tony Pratt, administrator of DNREC's Shoreline and Waterways Management section, confirmed Waddington's assessment in a Dec. 28 email. The sand is uniform in size and relatively fine-grained, he wrote. A new borrow site, about three miles off the coast of Delaware Seashore State Park, was used for this replenishment.

Pratt said the uniformity and fineness of the sand should create a gentler slope in the nearshore area this coming summer, making it, he said, a very good recreational beach.

Work on the $11.2 million replenishment project began shortly after Army Corps of Engineers contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company began moving their equipment on Rehoboth's shores Nov. 19. Sand pumping in Dewey began Dec. 13, and, said Steve Rochette, corps spokesman, the dredging and pumping was completed Dec. 23.

The base contract called for 424,000 cubic yards to be pumped, but after a number of options were added, the total amount of sand pumped was 653,000 cubic yards – 384,000 for Rehoboth and 269,000 in Dewey.

While two storms in early 2016 caused significant damage to the Cape Region's beaches and dunes, this project was done as part of a federal and state partnership that sees replenishment done in 3-year intervals. The 50-year program has the corps paying 65 percent of the cost, while the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control pays the remaining 35 percent. Pending adequate funding, said Rochette, there is more than 30 years left in the program.

There is still a small amount of work to be done on dune crossovers and on two stormwater outfall pipes in Rehoboth at Grenoble Place and Maryland Avenue. Rochette said the outfall pipes will take some time to complete. The contractor was waiting for the beachfill to be completed before making an initial assessment, he said.

It will be much easier to make the repairs now that the sand is in place, said Rochette, who added that the Army Corps of Engineers is planning on meeting with Rehoboth prior to starting the majority of the work.

Funding for about $110,000 worth of dune fencing has yet to be secured, and neither entity involved with finding the funding wants to be the one to say the money isn't there. The fencing helps knock blowing sand down as wind pushes it over the dune.

Rochette said he deferred to Pratt. Pratt said to ask the corps.