NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI) — With climate change bringing along more powerful storms, local environmentalists warn that Easton’s Beach in Newport is eroding at a faster pace.

Now there’s growing concern about the city’s public drinking water, which is right across the street.

“During any major storm, we are seeing the waters not only wash out those facilities and amenities we have at the beach, but coming halfway up the dam for our public drinking water supply,” Newport Mayor Xaykham Khamsyvoravong said during a taping of Newsmakers earlier this month.

According to Wenley Ferguson, the director of restoration at Save the Bay , the beach is now eroding a foot and a half on average each year.

She said erosion is a natural process where storms and flooding push sand inland, and that it often comes in pulses. She said a major example of that was when Superstorm Sandy arrived on Rhode Island’s shores in 2012.

“The dune migrated inland about 30 feet,” Ferguson said.

Homes were destroyed, roads were covered in sand, and the coast was dramatically reshaped. Since then, Ferguson said the speed in which shorelines are shrinking continues to ramp up as climate change fuels more powerful storms more frequently.

“In New England, the nor’easters can be just as impactful as a hurricane because they come more regularly than named hurricanes to our region,” she explained.

She pointed to this past winter’s storms as an example, which led to significant damage along the boardwalk at Easton’s Beach.

“They came through and they did a real job on the entire beach complex that flooded out the rotunda, all of the parking lots,” said Richard Klaffky, the chair of the Newport Beach Commission.

Klaffky said the carousel was taken down in June, but it’s unclear if any of the damaged buildings along the boardwalk will be repaired or replaced.

“While the plan hasn’t been delivered yet … I think it’s fair to say that most people have a more cautious view of where we are in terms of erosion,” Klaffky said. “Maybe there shouldn’t be so much structure down here.”

Klaffky said the damage was brought on by flooding and erosion. Despite the challenges, Ferguson said erosion itself is not bad, it’s when buildings get in the way that problems arise.

“The waves become stronger because they don’t dissipate as they go up a slope,” she said. “They hit the hardened infrastructure and then they reflect backwards and become stronger.”

This summer, food trucks replaced the physical buildings that were damaged in the storms. And while it’s a temporary solution, Ferguson said other coastal communities have used the strategy before.

“After Hurricane Sandy, some of the businesses in Westerly decided not to rebuild,” she said. “They brought in food trucks or temporary trailer structures.”

She said that strategy can help coastal communities adapt by allowing them to move their infrastructure out of harm’s way before a storm hits.

In November, Newport residents will vote on a nearly $100 million bond that would include $12 million for beach restoration projects. Klaffky said a piece of that could go toward beach nourishment, which involves adding sand.

“That would give us a wider beach and would give us protection for the buildings that are here,” Klaffky said.

But Ferguson has one idea that’s already shown results, and it’s cheap: native dune grass.

“$29 buys you 225 plants,” she said. Over the years, Save the Bay has taken on dune grass planting projects across the state. “It captures sand the moment you plant it … Those are small, simple steps that we can take to become more resilient in the short term.”

She said Save the Bay has taken on a number of planting projects, including at Easton’s Beach, where dune grass was able to protect some areas for a decade.

“The dune receded with the storm during Superstorm Sandy, we planted it, and then that dune started to build back out,” Ferguson said.

She also said the dune grass held up during the storms this past winter.

Ultimately, Klaffky said the conversation around erosion is going to be an evolving one that will require multiple solutions.

“We want to protect the beach,” he said. “It’s very important to the city economically. It’s important to the residents of Newport. It’s important to visitors who come to Newport. So this project is very important to us.”

Kate Wilkinson ( kwilkinson@wpri.com ) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook .

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