Game of Floods - Town Beach
Beach Lover
Assignment: Read the role assignment and background reading below, then answer the questions at the end.
Role Assignment:
You really love the town beach, and bring your family there almost every day in the summer! You aren’t a big fan of those houses right on the beach – they take up space that could be beach, and it’s awkward using the beach right in front of the houses. You love having Ollie’s Oyster Bar right on the beach, though. You think the beach is critically important to the community – how many towns have such a great beach only steps from the downtown? You are supportive of any ideas that would help keep the beach healthy and central to the community.
Your beloved beach
Background Reading:
Confronting Shoreline Erosion on O'ahu
https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies/confronting-shoreline-erosion-o‘ahu
Each winter, massive waves attract surfers and visitors to the North Shore of O’ahu in Hawai’i. Some years, the waves cause severe erosion, and continuing sea level rise will accelerate this issue. Residents and the state are taking steps to preserve homes and beaches.
Each winter, surfers from around the world flock to Sunset Beach on O‘ahu's North Shore. The huge waves that break along the beach during winter months have made it the home of the prestigious Vans World Cup of Surfing, and scores of visitors travel to the area for the competition or just to watch the massive waves. Over the years, most North Shore homeowners have become accustomed to the awesome display of waves breaking just offshore from their beachfront homes.
Over the winter of 2013–2014, however, the ocean swells threatened disaster. The pounding waves and high tides caused severe erosion and loss of land in front of about 20 homes along Sunset Beach. To the people residing along the beach, the need to protect their homes was obvious. At the same time, local officials were also concerned about public safety and about protecting the natural beach environment.
Intense waves and high sea level events contribute to coastal erosion, which threatened this house on the North Shore of O‘ahu.
Efforts to Save Beaches
For many years, the typical response to the threat of coastal erosion has been to protect the land by building a seawall. Over time though, this “solution” often leads to another problem—the loss of beaches. In Hawaiʻi, dunes and sandy plains provide a primary source of sand to sustain beaches where erosion moves them inland. When a retreating beach runs up against a hard structure such as a seawall, it has no place to go. Beach sands in front of the wall can erode away entirely, leaving adjoining beach areas and unprotected property vulnerable to accelerated erosion. Miles of beach on O‘ahu have already been lost, and some 70 percent of beaches in Hawai‘i are actively eroding.
Coastal erosion and “hard armoring” using sea walls has resulted in stretches of shoreline that have no beach, such as this location at Lanikai, O‘ahu.
Activities at Sunset Beach contribute substantially to the North Shore’s economy. The beach also provides ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat and storm surge protection. Losing the beach to erosion or a seawall could trigger a cascade of negative impacts.
Sunset Beach Utilizes a “Soft” Approach to Manage Erosion
Government agencies and homeowners from Sunset Beach sought guidance from Dr. Bradley Romine, a coastal geologist and coastal management specialist with the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program and the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources. Recently, Romine has grown accustomed to taking calls from homeowners when waves start eroding into their shorefront property. Where possible, he suggests ecological, or “soft,” approaches to shoreline protection as an alternative to hard structures. In answer to questions about the North Shore issue, Romine explained that soft approaches have the potential to protect homes while simultaneously preserving beaches.
Historically, dunes had backed the beaches of the North Shore, but most had been built on or removed to make way for roads and housing developments. Following the winter of 2013–2014, Romine and his department assisted homeowners in obtaining permits to restore the sand dunes in front of their homes. In implementing the dune restoration, residents chose to maintain the beach and the key functions it serves at the same time as they protected their homes.
The 2015–2016 winter season was a test for the newly restored sand dunes. With massive El Niño-fueled winter surf hitting the North Shore, more than 11 miles of highway were closed for days due to wave overwash. Yet the sand dunes held, and the Sunset Beach homeowners who had opted for restoring the dunes were relieved to find that no structures were lost or permanently damaged.
Construction equipment is used to restore dunes on the North Shore of O‘ahu. This is one example of “soft” alternatives to hard armoring that can preserve the natural character of beaches while protecting homes from damage during high wave and storm events.
Newly restored dunes on O‘ahu's North Shore protected homes from high waves during the 2015–2016 winter.
Story Credit: Adapted from NOAA Sea Grant article "Community Resilience: Is Hawai‘i ready for the impacts from climate change?" See link under Additional Resources.
Questions:
1. What was threatening homes in sunset beach?
2. How can seawalls cause beaches to disappear?
3. What happened to the dunes that used to protect the coastline of the North Shore?
4. Answer this question in character as a beach goer (see the role description at the top). Would you support building a sea wall to protect homes on the beach in Resilient? Why or why not?
Once you have answered the above questions, move on to Part 2 here.
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