‘Fighting a losing battle with the sea’

Beth Daley contributed a rich, accurate article in the Boston Globe: …The ocean’s fury is an omnipresent threat for the growing number of people who live at its edge. But accumulating scientific evidence suggests that our warming climate could cause sea levels to rise faster than previously thought, making storm surges like the one that pummeled Scituate [Massachussetts] more dangerous.

Several lines of research now indicate that a 3-foot global rise by 2100 is a plausible scenario, though some scientists forecast a smaller rise. In other words, what was once a problem for our great great-grandchildren is one our children could confront. And it is possible the news could be even worse in the Northeast. Studies show that changes in ocean circulation driven by warming waters could raise sea levels an additional foot or more along New England shores by the end of the century.

…As the Scituate flood demonstrated, the region is woefully ill-equipped to hold back a rising ocean. In some places along the Bay State’s coast, concrete and boulder barriers, most more than a half-century old, protect billions of dollars worth of property. In the last five years, several sea walls have partially or entirely failed in Massachusetts, including ones in Gloucester, Marshfield, and Oak Bluffs.

Deeply concerned over the projected sea level rise, state officials commissioned a massive inventory of publicly owned sea walls and other coastal barriers four years ago. Almost 165 structures, whose failure would result in significant property damage, were declared in fair, poor, or critical condition, but only a fraction of them have been fixed because of the budget crisis. The price tag to repair and fortify all of them against rising seas is huge: more than a billion dollars.

“We are now facing a societal debate about how much people want to pay — and who pays — for coastal defense,’’ said S. Jeffress Williams, a coastal marine geologist and scientist emeritus with the US Geological Survey Woods Hole Science Center.

…Now, as seas advance, passions are running high on what to do. Many state and local environmental officials acknowledge that letting shorelines loose is the best answer, but they quickly add it is an impractical solution given all the homes, businesses, and roads protected by sea walls. Others say the best protection against rising seas is more coastal defenses, but ones better crafted to work with nature…

Revere Beach, Massachusetts in 1905