Homeowners in Westmoreland Co. VA asked SSS Inc. to help solve an erosion problem they were having along the Potomac River. The area had a high cliff on the river with no beach, which allowed the continuing landslides to fall in the water and be washed away. Having read a USGS study (02-332) on Calvert Cliffs, MD with a similar situation we determined that a series of breakwaters placed offshore to build up a beach was the cheapest solution for the homeowners.
Each lot was approximately 80 feet across and 21 lots were grouped together in the joint permit application. 16 lot owners went ahead with the project and each had 5 boxes covering 45 feet of beachfront at their waterline. The boxes were each 9 feet long by 5 feet wide and 4 foot 6 inches tall. They were open toped with four holes in the sides for handling and flooding. They were made of concrete and each weighed 4.6 tons empty.
The boxes were unloaded off tractor trailers and carried out to the waters edge by an excavator at a local beach in the Stratford Harbor Association property. The boxes were then lashed together in groups of five and pushed upriver by a boat to their breakwater positions and sunk over a period of 8 days in September, 2006.
The area sees strong winds and waves with an 18 mile fetch to the NW and a 10 mile fetch to the East. In the four months since installation many of the breakwater have built up an attached tombolo of sand out 60 feet offshore were the boxes were sunk. The boxes have all been covered with SAV since the installation, inside and out and after several severe storms have shown no scour in front of the boxes, actually sand has accreted in front of them.
Eroding Cliff |
90 ft. cliff |
Launching boxes |
Moving boxes |
One Month Later: Sand building |
6 Months Later: First 3 Breakwaters |
