Sandbags and beach erosion, Isle of Palms, Charleston County, South Carolina. Photo source: ©© Kevin Oliver
Excerpts;
Experimental removable seawalls have been ordered to be taken down in front of erosion-imperiled condos and houses…
Read Full Article, Post And Courier (07-11-2016)
Seawall ‘Option’ Won’t Wash, Post And Courier (10-23-2014)
Hard erosion control devices aren’t generally allowed on South Carolina beaches, and with good reason. Here’s why: Seawalls actually can accelerate erosion, often on adjacent property. The failure of sandbags and other permitted devices speaks to the unrelenting forces of nature, not a shortcoming of the regulatory system primarily designed to protect the coast…
“Seawalls Kill Beaches,” Open Letters by Warner Chabot And Rob Young; (10-03-2014)
A report and open letter from coastal geologists Warner Chabot and Rob Young, presented to the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) meeting in Sacramento, held on August 26th, 2014…
“Engineering away our natural defenses: An analysis of shoreline hardening in the US,” A Study by By Rachel K. Pittman, ResearchGate (08-08-2015)
Rapid coastal population growth and development are primary drivers of marine habitat degradation. Although shoreline hardening, a byproduct of development, can accelerate erosion and loss of beaches and tidal wetlands, it is a common practice globally. 22,842 km of continental U.S. shoreline, 14% of the total, has been hardened…
Sandbagged: The Undoing of a Quarter Century of North Carolina Coastal Conservation, Op Ed by Gary Lazorick (07-04-2011)
Rows of houses with overlapping sandbag walls create huge problems. The walls do as much damage to the beach as hardened seawalls. Removing the sandbags from one property potentially damages all of the others…
“The Beaches Are Moving,” A Video featuring Orrin Pilkey, PhD
World famous coastal geologist Orrin H. Pilkey takes us to the beach and explains why erosion has become a problem…
