Dune project starting

[Oleander Kayaker]

Today I received an email for the West Galveston Island Property Owners Association invite for a meeting this Saturday. County Comm. Patterson will present the beach replenishment and dune (clay core, I assume, no sand sock) project that will extend from the Seawall to 13 mile road.
They will finally start in Nov. and dredge material from the South Jetty and work 24/7 to complete.

[Oleander Kayaker]

Here is a link to the powerpoint presentation:

http://www.glo.state.tx.us/OC/WestGalveston-Restoration.pdf

[WestEndAngler]

Hopefully they can find a way to prevent it from happening again seems to me like its just money down the drain. I remember watching a show somewhere that by adding these objects out past the breakers they effectively gained more beach and reduced erosion, Swiss design or something, must have been 4-5 years ago now

[Oleander Kayaker]

The Swiss don't have beaches

You may be thinking of breakwaters or seawalls placed beyond the breakers. The Netherlands uses them, in addition to other coastal countries.

This project has the side benefit of finding a place to put the dredged material that they are getting from the south jetty and the anchoring basin. I hope it will not be too mucky. But, you are right, the material will still erode away over a period of time (say 20 years or the next Ike).

Rock groins (jettys) would help control the parallel to shore transport of material, though this project does not include those.

I just asked the engineer for the project (HDR, our competitor) whether clay cores are in the dunes. They are not. Consider the extra cost and low benefit (the dunes will erode away anyway, with or without clay cores).

And I mispoke earlier, Patterson is from the GLO.

Hopefully they can find a way to prevent it from happening again seems to me like its just money down the drain. I remember watching a show somewhere that by adding these objects out past the breakers they effectively gained more beach and reduced erosion, Swiss design or something, must have been 4-5 years ago now

[Scout177]

Along the coast of Louisiana they have rock jettys/groins that run parallel to to the beach with gaps in between about 200 yds off the beach. Don't know if it helps with erosion but should help the fishing.

[Kylie Howard]

anything you do to the beach front or put in past the breakers has some sort of negative effect on the beach front, mainly in the way of beach erosion. im not sure about adding dunes but i definitely do not ever want to see more groins or a seawall extension EVER.

[Oleander Kayaker]

Per a rep from GLO:

There are no plans to add groins or jettys anytime in the future. The cost/benefit analysis that was performed (pre-Ike), only showed a positive for beach replenishment and dunes (this project). Hard structures showed lower than positive C/B.

Seems Louisiana has been getting far more Fed funds (i.e. USACE rock groins Scout177 mentioned) than Texas has. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

anything you do to the beach front or put in past the breakers has some sort of negative effect on the beach front, mainly in the way of beach erosion. im not sure about adding dunes but i definitely do not ever want to see more groins or a seawall extension EVER.

[kenny]

Pi**ing money down a rat hole. The dredging and trucking companies love these projects.

Jamaica Beach had a million dollars+ worth of sand dunes trucked in. 6'-7' tall and at least 15' thick. Half washed away in one tropical storm and the rest with just high tides.
Before that years back there were the round bales of hay with pilings all around and it all tied together. You ought to see what a huge bale of hay does to a house in a storm surge....!

[Kylie Howard]

Per a rep from GLO:

There are no plans to add groins or jettys anytime in the future. The cost/benefit analysis that was performed (pre-Ike), only showed a positive for beach replenishment and dunes (this project). Hard structures showed lower than positive C/B.

Seems Louisiana has been getting far more Fed funds (i.e. USACE rock groins Scout177 mentioned) than Texas has. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

no i understand that, i was just saying that i would never want to see that happen EVER

[plugger]

I thought that the Louisianna rock barriers were pretty successful and helped fishing . Maybe I'm wrong .

[plugger]

The swiss don't have beaches anymore because their beach erosion methods worked too well !! :d

[Oleander Kayaker]

I had received an email response from the GLO shortly after your posting on the groins/jetties. I was posting their official position. It would seem that groin placement is pretty unlikely given the poor C/B. So, your position agrees with their assessment. I don't think we'll see them in our lifetime.

I agree with you (and Coe and Kenny). Lots of money for a temporary solution. But I would not want a permanent (hard structure) solution.

Cue the Ike dike . That idea will have a slow death.

It chafs me that Louisiana may be getting a disproportionate share of Fed funds than Texas (that comes from our taxes). Though, on the other hand, Texas is wasting less money.

no i understand that, i was just saying that i would never want to see that happen EVER