Beach cleaning method

A method of cleaning a beach by separating oil, oil residues and other floatable debris from the beach sand, comprising:

• introducing a continuous flow of water to a localized area of the beach;
• supplying said flow of water at sufficiently high volume to flood the localized area of the beach and to produce a pool of water at the surface of the porous sand of the beach, said water being supplied at low velocity and low pressure so that the water in said pool flows sufficiently slowly to produce a lifting action on any buoyant materials in or on the sand within the area being flooded, thereby causing oil or residues, and other floatatable debris to rise toward the surface of the sand and to float in said pool of water, said water further being supplied under sufficiently low pressure to minimize the entrainment of said in said water;
• directing said flow of water to cause oil, oil residues and other floatatable debris to collect near the center of said pool;
• skimming said pool of water to remove said oil, oil residue and other floating debris together with a small quantity of water and incidental water-entrained sand from the localized area while said area is still flooded;
• separating in said skimmer the floating oil, oil residues and other debris from the water and entrained sand and returning the water and entrained sand to said localized beach area;
• and
• advancing the localized area of flooding along the beach to continuously and progressively separate oil, oil residues and other floatatable debris from the sand of the beach without removing the sand from the beach and without environmental damage to the beach.