Texans scramble to rebuild eroding beaches ~ maybe they should start with removing seawalls

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While Texas isn’t the first state that you think of when you hear the word “beach,” the Houston Chronicle has some specifics on beach rebuilding projects in Galveston. They are planning on spending millions of dollars to restore their beaches.

It’s interesting to wonder if beach restoration like this is any more sound than the island building that I have ranted about in Dubai. We all love the beach, so maybe we should go back and ponder why the erosion is even happening in the first place. Is it our love of the beach that’s killing the beach? Sounds terrible.

If you read the Chronicle article, you’ll notice that they are going “to create a 200-foot wide beach west of the seawall.” It makes me wonder if the seawall wasn’t the cause of much of the erosion. Maybe they should start by removing the wall first. I wrote about this issue in the last several paragraphs of this post, and I mention a couple of links including this New York Times article on the seawall dilemma.

Of course, it may not be just the seawall in this case.  The article also talks about erosion caused by the maintenance of the Houston shipping canal.  Does anybody have any insights into the issue?

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Posted on October 24, 2007
Filed Under Beaches, Current Affairs, Islands, Real Estate |

Comments

3 Responses to “Texans scramble to rebuild eroding beaches ~ maybe they should start with removing seawalls”

  1. ab on October 25th, 2007 11:42 am

    as a person who grew up spending every single weekend of her life in Galveston, you should read more about the hurricane in the early 1900s that basically wiped out the town. the seawall was built to protect the island, and when you’re there you’ll see how it’s working.

  2. Amazon.com Retirement Center ~ because books are needed while you slowly die on a sand bar : Rapidsea ~ Escape from Paradise on October 26th, 2007 9:53 am

    [...] around.  Let’s enjoy what we have closer to our current homes.  And remember that seawalls kill beaches if you’re moving into a new condo with a shiny new wall in front of it.  Not a great [...]

  3. WSJ: Whose Beach Is It Anyway? : Rapidsea on December 13th, 2007 1:17 pm

    [...] them to get out of the public right of way on the beach.  Read about it here (with video). Seawalls are killing our beaches, folks. [...]

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