I moved to Ocean Boulevard in Delray Beach in February 2000. Back then the water was a beautiful Bahamian aqua blue, crystal clear much of the time.
I am not sure which year, but Delray Beach “replenished” its beach, starting 11/2 miles north of our beach. After the first season, the sand that was used for replenishment, which was light brown, moved south and completely changed our water color. There was some silt from this brown sand, but not too bad, as the water would clean in a day or so, after a storm. But the frequent aqua blue was gone.
Now, some years later, Delray again replenishes and this time with gray sand loaded with silt. Today the water is never as clear as before the first replenishment.
I now live in Highland Beach and we have both Delray’s two shades of sand and silt, plus with the southeast wind that prevails here, we have all Boca’s sand and silt, also!
Bottom line, what that ship [“Unusual ship is surveying sand on ocean floor for future projects,” Coastal Star, April 2019] should have been looking for was some sand that matched the white, pure sand that we had in 2000.
No more off-color sand that contains silt. Tallahassee does not care, so we have to require the use of sand that will return our water to aqua blue and crystal clear.
It’s out there, we just need someone who cares about the people’s environment.
This off-color sand and too often murky water is not good for tourism.
Fred Taubert
Highland Beach
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