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What EXPERTS say about: Erosion and Seawalls. September 29, 2009

* DR. RICHARD J. SEYMOUR, Head Ocean Engineering Research Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (May 2003): “There are many examples in Southern California of stable beaches that have not eroded perceptively during the past 50 years in spite of being backed with well-sited seawalls at the back of the beach.” “Agencies should modify their prescriptive laws, regulations, and management plans to allow the use of fixed structures in conjunction with beach nourishment projects…” “…to severely limit or eliminate the future construction of hard coastal protection structures is contrary to informed coastal engineering judgment and realistic economics.” * MEIR (Master Environmental Impact Report)City of Solana Beach (May 2002): Refrences DR.R.L. WIEGEL, Professor Emeritus, University of California Berkley as someone responsible for “better documented field studies” which “conclude that seawalls, in general, do not cause long-term beach erosion.” The MEIR notes that TAIT and GRIGGS (1991) “conclude that construction of the seawall at the base of a cliff made of relatively resistant rock has little net effect on beach erosion.” The MEIR also states that BENUMOF and GRIGGS (1999) “concluded that the more resistant Solana Beach type cliffs do not contribute a significant amount of sediment to the beach system.” * DAVID SKELLY, MS, PE (May 2003): “We will have to stop shoreline erosion somewhere, particularly before it reaches our vital civil works (freeways, roads, pipelines, railroads, etc.). Shoreline retreat has been shown to be 3-5 times as expensive as beach nourishment (National Research Council). * DR.R.L.WIEGEL, Professor Emeritus, University of California Berkley, “Seawalls, Sea Cliffs, Beachrock: What Beach Effects?”(July 2000): *“…seawalls do not cause erosion…there are sites where…they are appropriate and probably the best solution considering physical, economic, public use, and public safety aspects.” * NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL - Committee on Coastal Erosion Zone Management (1990): “Properly engineered seawalls and revetments can protect the land behind them without causing adverse effects to the fronting beaches.”