SCITUATE, Mass. — Some beloved beaches in Massachusetts are disappearing at an alarming rate.
Experts tell FOX25 that 80 percent of Massachusetts is eroding.
Meredith Knowles has seen it firsthand at her family beach home in Scituate.
[ >> PHOTOS: New England's beaches washing away at alarming rate ]
Five years ago, they lifted the home, 17 feet above the water.
“It comes up, all the way under the house. So you'll see under the house, there will be driftwood and stuff from where the waves pushed it this winter,” she said.
Another woman showed us a picture of the area from the early 1970s.
There used to be many homes lining that particular part of the beach.
Now, there are just two standing, and looking to fall next.
BATTERING OUR BEACHES
Greg Berman is a scientist at the Woods Hole Sea Grant who studies coastline erosion.
“The areas that are eroding seem to be accelerating,” he said.
He estimates 80 percent of the Massachusetts coast is eroding.
Berman blames it on a combination of more major storms and the infrastructure build up.
“The beaches aren't really healing themselves. They don't have enough time in between storms to truly heal themselves,” he added.
A report by the state’s Coastal Erosion Commission in 2015 identified Yarmouth with the fastest rate of beach erosion in the state, at 8.7 feet per year.
>>READ MORE: Full Coastal Erosion Commission report
The report recommended “no construction” buffer zones and that the state experiment with more new ways to combat erosion.
Saving our Shoreline
State representative Jim Cantwell told FOX25 that “we need to be planning now for the future.”
He is pushing for legislation for sand mining, which brings sand from a mile offshore to help replenish the beaches.
Critics worry there wouldn’t be enough regulation to protect the environment.
“That's what we'd have to do out in the ocean -- make sure there are areas that we designate as the areas that will do sand mining,” said Cantwell.
Cantwell said states like North Carolina and Florida have substantial use of sand mining and dredging on their coast.
He believes Massachusetts should follow their lead but critics say there is more focus in Massachusetts on preserving the seal life and the fishing industry.
Looking to Washington
Bruce Carlisle is the state’s director of Coastal Zone Management.
He said for years, the state has given millions of dollars to help towns fight erosion but any long term fix, including sand mining, would need help from Washington, DC.
“We're starting to see signs at the federal government level but we need to see more,” Carlisle said.
For now many families who own homes along the water are utilizing best practices to make their own private property more resilient.
Yet even Knowles admits she is watching her home and dreams slowly slip away.
“I learned when I was a 4-year-old on the beach, you can't stop the tide no matter how beautiful your sand castle is,” she said.