Park officials begin sand replenishment project at Doheny and Capistrano beaches

State and local officials are looking to offset coastal erosion at a pair of Orange County beaches with enough sand to fill five Olympic-sized pools.

"We are proud to partner with the city of Dana Point and the County of Orange on this sand restoration effort," said Scott Kibbey, a state park superintendent. "We look forward to this next phase of close collaboration with our project technical team members and community partners to achieve this monumental partnership project."

California State Parks are working with Orange County and Dana Point officials to replenish sand at Doheny State Beach and Capistrano Beach Park after the powerful winter storms created tons of sand in the Santa River. The excess amount of sand would typically be dumped in a local landfill. 

"The sand needed to be removed from the channel for flood conveyance and rather than let this beach-quality sand go to waste we reached out to our partners at Orange County Parks and State Parks to find out if they were able to use the sand to restore the beach," said Giles Matthews, an Orange County Public Works manager.

The joint project aims to dump 45,000 cubic yards of sand onto the beaches over the next four months. 

County public works crews will bring in about 300-400 cubic yards of sand every weekday to the southern part of Doheny. The beaches will remain open to the public, but construction areas will be cordoned off to visitors.