Mission | Sea Walls | Berms | Gallery
To educate the public about different anti-erosion techniques and empower them to take action by working with local municipalities to reduce, stop and ultimately reverse coastline erosion.
As I walked along the beach in South Daytona with my father, we talked about the SeaWalls that were in varying states of disarray from recent hurricanes. Some were ripped apart, others had been replaced. Some used boulders, some used a newer hard vinyl sheeting that felt like thick PVC pipe. Some older concrete walls were flat, while the newer vinyl walls had 7" waved indention patterns to absorb the waves' energy. These did seem to be far superior to the concrete wall that we had in front of our condo. Some walls were 3x as tall as others. We marveled at which seawalls we felt were the strongest. It was like grading the 3rd little pig's home of brick. Surely that would keep the big bad wolf of a storm away.
Sea Walls come in 6ft, 8ft, 10ft, and 12ft lengths. The beach condos most likely use the 12ft lengths. Some sea walls are staggered to provide additional protection and give additional height. One way drains were seen on some of these that would help allow for appropriate drainage.
What if they added the large TrapBag sand blocks behind the wall and buried them? That could shift as needed to lock in place. Boulders in front could further disperse the waves' energy or provide stability for the wall should the sand be lost due to a rupture in the wall. A curved wall could allow for dispersing energy and provide strength like the old English crinkle crankle walls. The perfect seawall design should divert and dissipate the waves' energy but not lead to further erosion. While these newer vinyl seawalls do part of the job, they will likely lead to erosion of the beach like the other walls. It seems like some kind of berm could be used in conjunction with the wall to help maintain the beach.
The natural rock and debris berms at Washaway Beach in North Cove, WA could even help rebuild the beach. As the aggressive wave comes in, it carries with it sand. A barren beach allows that sand to be washed back out. The waves come in and out hundreds of times a day, thousands of times a week, hundreds of thousands of times a year carrying the sand goes in and then right back out, sometimes carrying more sand out than in.
A berm acts as a speed bump. The wave stumbles over it and loses some sand, then with less energy, it returns. Each time dropping sand and eventually burying the berm. Berms occur naturally and not only break up the waves, they restrict the sand returning out to the ocean which grows the beach.
Before we react by removing the unsightly sargassum, we could consider how to use it in building some berms and sand dunes as an inexpensive way to preserve and rebuild our beaches. Maybe sargassum blocks or reefs could be made to help rebuild the beach that had been much larger than it is today. Perhaps they could be rolled up like these coconut husks used on Shark River, NJ to create an organic berm.
All of this is to help fuel food for thought in coming up with creative ways to work with Mother Nature in rebuilding the beaches. I encourage city officials to test different approaches and share the learnings with other neighboring cities. Together, we can try to save our coastline.
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