Texas to beef up beach sand

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Texas officials have approved 20 projects costing more than $7 million to renovate eroded beaches with tons of trucked in sand to save tourism.

"This is a significant beach-building project," said Jerry Patterson, commissioner of the Texas General Land Office.

For example, nearly a mile of beach in Quintana, Texas, will receive about 72,000 tons of sand next week, enough to fill 5,900 dump trucks, reported the Houston Chronicle.

Quintana had been losing 10 to 18 feet of its beach annually.

"Everything from streets and sewers to hotels are threatened, and rather than write them off as a loss, by targeting where we rebuild beaches, we think we can significantly impact tourism, as well as protect natural resources," said Jim Suydam, a Land Office spokesman.