The consequences of removing sand from the beach

By Kimani Wiseman
St. Vincent and the Grenadines is blessed with some of the most beautiful homes and black sandy beaches in the Caribbean. Vincentians takes pride in building and designing quality homes for their family. Building a house is not cheap and the cost of building materials are very expensive. During the construction phase of a house, temptations would come for cheaper materials because everybody wants to save a dollar.
Sand is very important in the construction industry. Sand is needed to mix with cement for the construction of strong houses. Without sand, the construction industry would come to a “halt”. Some persons would over exploit the black sand from various beaches to build their dream house because it is free. However, this can be detrimental to the environment and to their house. Sand plays a pivotal role in alleviating beach erosion. During a storm or hurricane, the sea would get extremely rough, which would cause the sea water to come further more into land. The sand at the beach would reduce the strong waves which would mitigate loss of lives and damages to properties such as hotels and homes that are built along the coastline. Nobody wants to go at the beach on a hot sunny day to have a picnic, relaxing on the sand and all the sea water is coming far up the beach, wetting down all your food and drinks. This can be very frustrating.
The sand is a habitat for crabs and sea turtles use the sand to incubate their eggs at the beach and to hide their eggs from predators. A reduction of sand at the beach can cause a reduction in sea turtle population putting them at risk of “extinction”. Sand displays the aesthetic beauty of beaches and families use the beach to play soccer, cricket and other sports at the beach. Removing sand from the beach, would destroy some of the recreational activities and fun times that families spend together. The usage of sand from the beach to construct houses would cause the corrosion of steel because sand from the beach contains a lot of salt, this means that your house would not last very long. Sand also supports vegetation at the beach, less sand means less vegetation at the beach. Walking bare feet in the sand at the beach is very relaxing which helps to burn calories and fat for a healthy lifestyle. Some persons also use the beach to get rid of stress and to enjoy the sweet sounds of waves crashing on the shore. The protection of our beach is very imperative.