FOLLY BEACH — Folly Beach will be renourished with around 130,000 dump trucks worth of sand this year. The renourishment process will begin in late February or early March 2024 and should end ahead of peak hurricane season, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District.
Folly Beach Director of Public Works Eric Lutz said the renourishment is well-timed, due to severe erosion caused by storms such as Hurricane Ian in 2022 and the nor’easter in December 2023.
“The timing couldn't be better, and we're really hoping we don't get too many more storms before they get started,” he said.
The National Weather Service forecasts a wet winter for Charleston, with above-average rainfall and potential for unseasonably strong storms such as the nor’easter that caught the region by surprise last month. That storm pushed Folly Beach’s sand dunes back as much as 20 feet.
During severe weather events, beaches and dunes provide communities a buffer from the wind and ocean. Lutz said they’re meant to be “sacrificial.”
“We know (the beach) is going to get eroded over time, but it's either that or we lose buildings, houses or half of our economy,” Lutz said.
Lutz estimated that for every dollar spent on renourishing Folly Beach, or any of the state’s beaches, $30 is earned in revenue from tourism.
“The beaches generate tons of revenue for tourism,” he said. “(The beach) is a huge economic engine.”
Folly Beach has received five renourishments in the last three decades, costing $77 million, which came from federal tax dollars and local funds, The Post and Courier previously reported. The upcoming renourishment will cost $18 million and will be funded entirely by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Charleston’s drinking water utility will soon be compelled to comply with America’s first drinking water standards for “forever chemicals.”
Mark Cline, Charleston Water System’s chief executive officer, said the water utility will meet those new rules. But it’s not going to be cheap.
“In my view, and I’ve been doing this for 40 years, this is the most expensive rule EPA has ever put in place for drinking water,” Cline said.
He estimates that installing the treatment technology to meet the new guidelines will cost “at least” $130 million in capital costs and $10 million to $12 million in annual operating costs for the Water System.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the long-awaited regulations April 10, estimating that complying with the rules nationwide will cost $1.5 billion annually. That’s essentially a break-even point, as the federal agency also estimates the new rules will result in savings of $1.5 billion per year from lower cancer rates, fewer heart issues and reduced birth problems.
The pollutants go under the scientific name per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which pose health risks at even small levels of exposure. PFAS is a massive chemical family with thousands of member compounds, some of which can take hundreds of years to break down — hence their nickname “forever chemicals.”
Charleston Water System serves about 125,600 customers in the region. Its most recent testing for PFAS showed that the utility is already in compliance with new standards for the compound PFOA, a known human carcinogen. But levels of the compound PFOS, a possible carcinogen, were tested at 5.56 parts per trillion, which is above the new health standard of 4 ppt.
Charlestonians who want to avoid drinking elevated PFOS levels can decrease their exposure through table-top water filters.
PFAS have been linked to a laundry list of health issues. That includes, among other things, increased infertility, developmental problems, increased risk of certain cancers and hormonal issues. The EPA notes that ”research is still ongoing” and the precise health effects of PFAS can be difficult to tease out given the size of the chemical family and the multiple different routes of exposure.
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