State Asked to Approve Sand Dumping at Zuma Beach
The California Coastal Commission will consider designating Zuma and Westward beaches as approved drop sites for clean inland sand.
California's Coastal Commission is being asked to approve a program that would clear red tape to allow local sand to be dumped on local beaches.
It's called SCOUP — the Sand Compatibility and Opportunistic Use Program. And SCOUP is planned for Zuma Beach. The idea is to designate Westward and Zuma beaches as places where sand can be dumped.
For example, when Malibu Lagoon was dredged 15 years ago, the sand was trucked off to a landfill rather than dumped on a beach. Currently, state regulations do not allow perfectly clean, perfectly appropriate sand to be put on a beach.
Crazy, right?
The Coastal Commission this month is being asked to predesignate Zuma Beach and four other beaches as places where sand from an inland project can be tested and, if appropriate, dumped on the beach.
State officials say as much as 150,000 cubic yards of sand might be placed on Zuma and Westward beaches. Some of that sand may come from Marina del Rey when the county dredges that man-made harbor.
A bigger program — to move sand from Rindge Dam on Malibu Creek — may also become a sand source for Zuma. That sand right now is planned to be dumped offshore near Surfrider Beach. That project is still in the examination stage.
The Coastal Commission will consider the Zuma Beach SCOUP program at its meeting in two weeks in Monterey County.