BOWERS BEACH — In an attempt to replenish damaged shorelines along the Delaware Bay, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s beach-nourishment project has reached Bowers Beach.

The initiative, which began in early January, was put into place by DNREC’s Shoreline and Waterway Management Section. With community feedback, DNREC surveys determined that the bay’s shorelines had been highly impacted by coastal storms in recent months.

According to DNREC, the beach nourishment will replenish the coasts of Pickering Beach, Kitts Hummock, Bowers Beach, South Bowers and Slaughter Beach, as well as those of surrounding communities. They will be restored periodically, not all at once.

The cost of the project is expected to be $1.4 million, due in large part to the inflated cost of sand, as well as a high demand for it, officials said. The scarcity of sand can be attributed to its uptick in usage in the construction industry.

Michael Globetti, DNREC’s media relations manager, said the department is confident in its concise plan to help the Delaware shorelines, as the project has taken a lot of careful groundwork.

“Beach-nourishment projects can include planning work to prioritize and budget these projects, geologic investigations to identify sources of sand, engineering design to determine the best configuration of a berm and dune, and construction to build those designs in the real world,” he said.

Planning for the nourishment project has been underway since mid-2021, but the intention for it began after a 2020 assessment of the state’s beaches showed high vulnerability along the Delaware Bay shore.

For most of these areas, the nourishment will consist of placing sand from a local inland source into the areas of erosion along the shoreline.

For South Bowers, sand from the Murderkill River Inlet and entrance channel will be dredged and placed on the affected areas, DNREC said.

Large beach-nourishment projects such as this one typically need periodic infusions of additional sand to combat shoreline erosion, Mr. Globetti said, and DNREC plans to revisit replenishment for these areas in the fall and winter of 2022.

Beach nourishment is expected to be complete April 15, with the exception of Slaughter Beach, which has a target date of March 1.