By Barb Aue, South Beach Bulletin, 11/21/2001
With each new storm series, Westport's South Jetty comes closer to another breach that could threaten City infrastructure, businesses and homes. The ocean broke through the jetty in December of 1993, forcing emergency work to save nearby infrastructure, Westhaven State Park & the Lighthouse Dune Trail.
Erosion has continued at varying rates along the western edge of Half Moon Bay since a breach was closed in the spring of 1994. Strong winter storms are currently accelerating the process. A haul road built for repair work on the South Jetty two years ago has now been cut off and erosion is spreading laterally along Half Moon Bay parallel to the Westhaven State Park access road.
City of Westport officials are concerned enough about the rate of current erosion along Half Moon Bay that they have been in contact with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), sending photographs to the Seattle District office last Thursday. City officials have also contacted Pacific International Engineering (P.I.E.), the consulting firm that designed the jetty fix. They are currently awaiting a response from both organizations.
According to Westport Mayor Berk Barker, "What's happening now at the site is not unexpected. The Corps and Pacific International Engineering didn't expect it to last this long. In fact, it's held up about three years longer than originally anticipated. Sand replenishment is a part of the maintenance project and it appears they will need to address it now," he added.
Since the jetty breached in 1993, City officials have battled nature, the State of Washington, the federal government, and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in efforts to maintain the land mass that connects the South Jetty with Westhaven State Park. That same thin strip of sand also separates the Pacific Ocean from Half Moon Bay to the east. At risk is the city's wastewater treatment plant and the Westhaven business and residential district, home to the Westport Marina.
The COE closed the breach under federal emergency provisions in 1994, and added more sand in 1995. The fill came from dredge spoils in Grays Harbor that were offloaded at Firecracker Point, mixed with water, and then pumped as slurry across Peterson Point to the breach. Included in the project were provisions for sand replenishment as nature requires.
According to Barker, "Because of monetary constraints as well as objections from the State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the work completed at the site was not the full project proposed, "…including the rock dog-leg at the base of the jetty that hasn't been removed. It has proven to help accelerate the erosion in the area," said Barker.
In June & July of last year, repair work was done on the South Jetty itself. It included placing huge boulders, called 'A' stone or armor rock, along the jetty to repair the embankment that fell victim to the 1993 breach. Embankment protection was completed out approximately 1300 feet at an elevation of 15 feet above sea level. At that time, the Corps of Engineers had approximately a year to award a contact for the rest of the work, which includes the addition of approximately another 53,000 tons of rock.
For now, it's a wait and see game for the City. With this week's new storm series and more predicted throughout the winter, the situation could force the use of emergency sand replenishment at the site.
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