Posted on: Wednesday, August 20, 2003

EDITORIAL
Sea walls can't become permanent fixtures

We can't blame hotels and homeowners for building sea walls to keep strong ocean currents from eroding their property. But whenever and wherever possible, sea walls must remain a temporary weapon in the war against vanishing beaches.

University of Hawai'i researchers have determined that O'ahu has lost 25 percent of its beaches over the past 50 years, mainly because of sea walls or similar construction.

That said, the state has allowed Ka'anapali Ali'i and the Maui Marriott to install temporary measures to protect their properties from a severely eroding beach. The measures include sand bags, plastic highway barriers and steel plates.

Just recently, Ka'anapali Beach was named the nation's top beach in rankings compiled by Florida International University's Laboratory for Coastal Research. Naturally, we don't want it to wash away.

As the state says, those sea walls will have to come down once the sand returns — as expected. This "temporary" fix must not become permanent.

As coastal engineers frequently point out, sea walls are designed to protect the land, not the beach.