Erosion Project Proposal

Baldwin Beach

October, 2018

Prepared For:
Maui County
Maui Country Club

Prepared By:
Sam Mochizuki
Field Ecology
Wailuku, HI, 96793

Project: Baldwin Beach Groin Implementation

Location: Baldwin Beach, Maui, Hawaii

Estimated Cost: $21,903.76

Time Frame: Around 1 month

Members Involved: Miyake Concrete, Dorvin Leis

Table of Contents:
 1. Introduction
1.1- Summary
1.2- Location
1.3- Purpose
2. Environmental Setting
2.1- Climate
2.2- Tide
2.3- Waves
2.4- Backshore Composition
2.5- Figures
3. Overview of Affected Environment
3.1- Marine
3.2- Air and Water Quality
3.3- Other Organisms
3.4- Geographical
4. Physical Plan and Financial Breakdown
4.1- Cost
4.2- Calculations
4.3- Blueprint
5. Alternatives Considered
5.1- Sandbags
5.2- Seawall
5.3- Vegetation
6. Potential Impacts
6.1- Ecological
6.2- Environmental
6.3- Social
6.4- Noise
7. Potential Impacts of No Action
7.1- Locations Affected
7.2- Organisms Affected
7.3- Aesthetics Affected
8. Works Cited

Introduction
1. My plan is to construct two groins at the edges of Baldwin beach to decrease the
amount of erosion occuring there. The groins should allow less sand to be
 pushed to the side and keep most of the sand in the area. The groins will be
constructed with concrete and steel beams. The steel beams will be deep into
the ground to provide more stability and support to the concrete wall.

2. Baldwin beach is located on the north side of Maui next to Paia. It is right next to
the Maui country club and Baldwin Park. It features lots of sand and has rock
outcroppings on the edges. It is around 700 meters long with trees surrounding it.
The water is a nice blue color and waves come mostly from the sides of the
beach.

3. The purpose of building these groins is to reduce the amount of erosion occuring
on Baldwin beach. Over the course of several years, Baldwin beach has lost
much of its shore because of erosion and may lose lots more in the future. The
groins will help to keep the beach from losing too much and causing problems to
the areas around.

Environmental Setting
1. Baldwin Beach is usually around 80 degrees fahrenheit and gets rain every 5
days of the month.
 2. High tide is around 2.6 feet and low tide is about 2 feet.

3. Waves are around 5.5 feet

4. The backshore is mostly trees and a little bit of dunes.

Figure 1: Old tree stumps in the water

Figure 2: Backshore coast erosion

Figure 3: Fallen tree due to erosion

Figure 4: Multiple fallen trees from erosion

Figure 5: Fallen pieces of land from erosion

Overview of Affected Environment
1. As far as affecting the marine life, not much should be affected. The groins barely
go into the water and take up only a little bit of space. There isn’t too many reefs
close to the shore so there aren’t many fish that’ll be affected

2. Water quality and air quality should stay the same. While it is being constructed
there may be a disturbance in the water and air, but it should be minimal. Unless
parts of the groin break off and go into the water, the water should stay clean.

3. Other life on the beach shouldn’t be as affected either. There are only a few
organisms on the beach such as crabs and mongooses. The groin takes too little
space to have that much of an affect on the organisms, but it may affect them
slightly.

4. It could affect the layout of the beach by a little. Sand should build up against the
groin and create small hills.

Physical Plan and Financial Breakdown

 1. In materials the project should cost around $21,903.76

2. Steel beams should be 15 cm by 15 cm by 3 m, which is 0.0675 cubic meters. If I

have 2 steel beams placed every 20 m on a 100 m wall then I should have 10
steel beams. So I need 0.675 cubic meters of steel, which should cost $151.88.
The concrete will need to fill an area of 30 cm by 2 m by 100 m which is 60 cubic
meters. That will cost $10,800 and make the total cost of one groin $10,951.88.
Considering I will need to build two groins all of this gets doubled equalling to
$21,903.76.

3.

Alternatives Considered
1. Sandbags have been considered, but I believe isn’t a great choice for this beach.
 Although sandbags will help stop waves form crashing on the shores too much,
they will look very odd on the beach and take away from the beauty of the beach.
Plus the beach is about 700 m long and will require a substantial amount of
sandbags to cover. Using groins is a significantly cheaper solution.

2. Seawalls wouldn’t be a good choice for this beach for a few reasons. Seawalls
affect the waves coming in by making them smaller and not as likely to break on
the shore. Baldwin beach is a surf spot where many people surf everyday. If a
seawall was implemented, it would ruin the chances for surfers to be able to surf
there. Also seawalls require lots of money, money that could be spent on more
important things.

3. Vegetation may be a cheaper option, but may take a while to fully take effect.
There are many trees along the backshore already, but planting any closer would
mean to plant them on sand. Not too many trees grow well on sand and the ones
that do will fall eventually as the sand erodes away. If there was sturdier ground
then this option may be better, but most of the backshore is just dunes.

Potential Impacts
1. As far as ecological concerns, there really aren’t any. The groins will stop the
sand from being pushed too far away so it should prevent any habitats being
destroyed. The only part I feel it may affect is all the construction to have it
 implemented and where the groins are placed. It shouldn’t affect the sea life or
any organism on land.

2. In a geological sense, the groins may cause a lot of build up around it. Hills may
form on either side of it, but other than that there shouldn’t be any more
environmental issues. Maybe it’ll stop some wind from moving along the beach,
but that will only cause slight changes to the beach.

3. This shouldn’t affect how many people go to the beach by so much. People may
think it looks worse with two walls, but the walls aren’t that big or visible. Also it
shouldn’t cause any changes such as water becoming dirty, waves being smaller,
etc. It should only affect how many people go there when it’s being constructed.

4. The only noise that should be made is when it's being constructed. The
construction should only last about a month and there's no houses near the
beach so only people at the beach, park, or golf course should be able to hear it.

Potential Impacts of No Action

1. It may take a while, but if no action was taken then the Baldwin Park and Maui
Country Club could be affected. They are right behind the beach and eventually
the erosion could work its way up to the park and golf course. This would
damage the park and golf course causing them to need repairs.
 2. A few organism will be affected if no action was taken. Crabs and other
organisms that live on the beach will lose their homes and most likely die. Also if
the erosion moves up to the trees, it could destroy the animals that live in the
trees or off of them.

3. The beach would be mostly water and there would be almost no shore. It would
probably just be a cliff that goes into the ocean. All the sand would be covered
and the areas around the beach would mostly be covered.

Works Cited

Lim, Siang-Chyn, et al. “Hawaii Coastal Erosion Website.” Plate Tectonic, Volcanoes and

Earthquakes, 5 Jan. 2005, www.soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/erosion/maui/.

“#SeawallsFAIL: TURNING THE TIDE ON MAUI'S COASTAL EROSION.” Maui Nui

 Marine Resource Council, 12 Apr. 2018, www.mauireefs.org/seawalls/.

“Groins.” High Marsh, Oceanica, oceanica.cofc.edu/an%20educator'sl%20guide%20to%20folly

%20beach/guide/process3.htm.