About
SAND-Rx™
More Beach Erosion Info
SAND-Rx™ — Beach
Erosion Treatment Overview
SAND-Rx™ is a revolutionary beach erosion treatment that aids in the
renourishment of beaches, and the remediation and reversal of beach
erosion.
Current beach erosion remediation methods focus on trying to modify wave action by creating structures intended to
inhibit wave action damage. SAND-Rx™ is the only product that addresses
a critical contributor to beach erosion — pollution.
Healthy beaches are sustained by the natural cohesion that exists
between grains of sand and water. However, much of the sand around the world is
impacted by pollution, which renders the sand hydrophobic and
disrupts the sand's ability to create this natural cohesion with water.
SAND-Rx™ is a proprietary protein-based reagent composed of naturally occurring
marine materials. When applied to sand, it flushes pollutants from the sand, enabling the sand to
reestablish its natural cohesion and the beach ecosystem to thrive. Wave
action is essential to the SAND-Rx™ treatment process as each wave that
washes onto shore contains millions of grains of sand that help to
renourish the eroded beaches. Through the migratory properties of
SAND-Rx, the incoming sand from the waves is treated by the sand on the
beach that has already received an application of SAND-Rx.
Back to top
Uses
SAND-Rx™ is used to renourish beaches and remediate and reverse beach
erosion. SAND-Rx can be used anywhere wave action is present, including
ocean shores, bay areas, lakes and streams, as well as man-made or artificial beaches. The SandCastle Technology team will
do a full evaluation of your beach and determine if SAND-Rx can help you!
Back to top
Application Process
SAND-Rx™ is applied directly to the beach or water adjacent to the
eroding shoreline. The method of application depends entirely on the
location and condition of the beach to be treated as well as the severity
of the erosion. The SandCastle Technology team uses various methods to apply
SAND-Rx, including installing injection wells, pouring it into holes or a trench
that have been dug on the beach, spraying it from a tractor on the shore or from a boat in the water.
After one application, SAND-Rx will affix itself to the sand in that area
as well as migrate to surrounding areas. A beach can be treated with
SAND-Rx in a very short period of time and in many cases the application
process can be coordinated and completed in a manner that does not
require a beach to be closed for an extended period of time.
Back to top
Safety Information
SandCastle Technology warrants that SAND-Rx™ is a non-toxic,
non-polluting composition made up of all GRAS (Generally Recognized as
Safe) components according to the 1958 Food Additives Amendment to the
Food Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938. There are hundreds of substances whose use is generally recognized by experts as
safe, based on their extensive history of use in food or based on published scientific evidence.
If you would like more information about the safety of using or
applying SAND-Rx, you can submit your questions via the
Contact Us page or call us at 413-531-2200.
What Causes Beach Erosion?
It is commonly accepted that beach erosion is caused by the movement
of waves, severe storms, earthquakes, tides, global warming and various
other factors including manmade structures. A certain amount of erosion
is natural and is caused by these factors. However, the majority of the
severe erosion that is seen on many beaches today, aside from that caused
by storms, is unnatural and may be a result of another factor - pollution.
Naturally, beaches are formed and preserved by the cohesion between the
grains of sand and water maintaining the height, width and slope of the beaches. If
this cohesion is disrupted, as it is when subjected to pollution, the
sand can no longer sustain its natural condition and begins to wash away.
Ultimately, this leads to eroded beaches and cliffs.
Back to top
Other Solutions
In the past, various methods have been employed to prevent beach
erosion, including dredging, and the construction of jettys and
breakwaters, among others. Though these solutions provide a temporary fix
to beach erosion, they do not completely resolve the situation, nor do
they prevent future erosion because they do not treat the pollution in the sand, which is
a critical contributor to most beach erosion. In addition, these methods are very
costly not only to the community, but also to the ecosystem on the
beach.
Dredging consists of dumping large amounts of sand on the beaches in
an effort to replenish the lost sand. This replacement sand often comes
from further out in the sea and may be polluted, thereby compounding the
problem, rather than helping it. This method may also be detrimental to the
ecosystem because it can bury nests that animals have dug in the beaches.
Building jettys and breakwaters along the coastlines temporarily
prevents the beach from eroding, but eventually the beaches will begin to
erode in an unnatural manner working around the man-made obstructions.
Therefore, this method only prolongs the inevitable erosion of the beach
and can ultimately be hazardous to the environment because it obstructs
the natural flow of the water and disrupts natural tendencies.
Back to top
|
