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One option, already widely used in the United States and elsewhere, is to use recycled concrete products rather than “virgin” sand and gravel in the foundations of buildings and roads. The many benefits include improved performance—in greater strength and durability, control over gradation, and the potential to minimize cracking; and reduced environmental impacts—less disposal and dumping, fewer unsightly piles of concrete rubble blighting the landscape, and of course more virgin aggregate available for projects that really need it. Economic benefits include shorter hauling distances of material that would otherwise be considered waste, and general cost savings through the use of less virgin aggregate.

Sand and gravel mining is not going to stop, and although very few dams were built in the last 20 years, there is continual pressure to build more. Neither industry is likely to offer compensation voluntarily for removing beach material. Meanwhile, the coastline of California, particularly southern California, is in constant threat from erosion. If there is to be any change in the regulations governing beach deprivation, and sand and gravel mining in particular, those who are paying the price must become much more vocal in their protests.

Orville T. Magoon, president of the Coastal Zone Foundation, has more than 35 years of experience with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in coastal zone management, coastal structures, and their rehabilitation.

Linda K. Lent, who runs a consulting company based in Bethesda, Maryland, has been evaluating the economics of shoreline and other water resource issues for 25 years.

This article is greatly abridged. For the full text, see the print edition of Coast & Ocean.

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