Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site How to prevent sand loss on beach

@ESSHUP

I noticed you are a fellow Hoosier. I live just south of Fort Wayne. Maybe I'll have to come visit!

This time of the year starts the busy season. I will be going through your area the last few days of the month.

Which berm are you thinking about cutting? I would not cut the underwater berm. That would act as a funnel and speed-up the water flow taking sand with it. The purpose of the berm is to let water go over it while the sand settles out in place behind the berm.

If you are talking about only during construction as an aid, then that might be different.

Won't the water pool up at the berm if it doesn't have an outlet? I see what you mean though.

Hey there! I've never thought about how to prevent sand loss on a beach, but it's definitely an interesting topic. I'm not sure if the water would pool up at the berm if there wasn't an outlet, but it sounds like a possibility. It would be interesting to learn more about it. BTW, have you stayed in any good broadbeach hotels before? I've been looking for recommendations for my next trip.

I just saw this thread, I'll chime in with what some pond owners around here do for the "sand slipping" down to the bottom end of beach or further under water. Most build up a berm on the deep end of beach that will be under water, with clay or stone. On ours I shot pea gravel a few inches deep over the whole beach while still dry so it could settle in. At deep end I built up a 2' tall berm with 1"-2" gravel.
My pond builder said not to put sand on beach area until water was half way up it while it filled to keep from losing it. We shot the pea gravel and then sand over beach following year with a sling truck.
Every few years it seems most beaches still need a load of new sand added to keep nice.

For sand on the beach area above water that erodes bad I have seen people use rail road ties for a barrier.

Just a note on beach erosion. It is generally thought to be dependent on the sand grain size and the slope. You can find that a 25:1 slope is generally felt to be good for ocean front beaches subject to large waves but 10:1 or 15:1 should be sufficient for ponds and such. The article at this link, https://www.researchgate.net/public...ntology_of_Estuaries_and_Coasts/download contains a nice figure (13) showing slope, grain size relationship as a function of wave exposure. Some authors have also noted that a 10:1 slope might be observed underwater away from the wave area.

I took the conservative approach and used 15:1, which makes it good for water shy dogs and little tykes, and for getting in and out of canoes. At the bottom I put a 15ft wide flat region before a drop off. We will see how that holds up but the flat region limits erosion from above. We have only had water on the beach since November but see no signs of erosion whatsoever, yet.

Jadog, don't know if this will help; it was my southern engineering , has worked so far. built the berm out of 6"-8" rock , came up to
within 18" of surface, covered the berm with heaviest pond liner my contractor could provide. Came out on east edge of beach with
berm to main berm, went west the width of the beach, left west end open for good water circulation, prevent stagnation.
Around 3 sides of the beach, above water , dry sides of beach, we used the new PVC , "Push in" pilings, used a large Excavator
to push the PVC pilings into the ground creating a water tight low wall around the beach to prevent water erosion from upper grass Lawn. Hope my description makes sense, With the Pond liner over the berm rock. no stubbed toe complaints, so far.
The Pond liner, on pond side of berm, we piled some more 6-8" rock to hold liner in place. For what it's worth, hope it helps.
BG love it, always nests all over the sand , in about 8-12" of water.