Erosion, navigation and sedimentation imperatives at Jupiter Inlet, Florida: Recommendations for coastal engineering management

摘要

In this final report on the investigation of the potentialities of improvedudcoastal engineering management of Jupiter Inlet, Florida, three management-guidingudissues were considered: better control of the erosion of the south beach, betterudnavigation access and safety, and better control (reduction) of sediment influx into theudinlet channel and upstream points in the Loxahatchee River estuary. The first twoudissues have been particularly outstanding, due to persistent concern for the inherentuddeficiencies in the protocol for sand pumping and placement on the beach that tends touderode away rapidly, and the concern for conditions for navigation of vessels in theudproximity of the inlet in open waters. With regard to the third issue, despite theudreasonably successful ongoing program to pump sand out of the borrow areas within theudinlet channel, other areas such as some of the marinas in the inlet area, as well as theudregion of the Loxahatchee River west of the Florida East Coast Railroad bridge, haveudbeen experiencing slow but persistent sedimentation.udContingent upon a series of coastal and environmental engineering investigations,uda range of engineering actions that could mitigate erosion, navigation and sedimentationudproblems were considered. Based on the physical and ecological impacts that would beudcaused by these actions, two sets of action options that have net beneficial impacts dueudto action implementation have been proposed. The first is a set of interdependentudaction options that must be instituted inherently in a time-wise phased manner. Theudsecond is a set of independent action options which can be instituted as and when desired. For determining the overall feasibility of any action option, it will beudnecessary to weigh the technical benefits against costs, which are provided. It shouldudbe emphasized however that, considering the overwhelmingly observational nature ofudcoastal science, the estimates of potential benefits are essentially and inherentlyudsubjective, and the costs very approximate, especially in cases where the desiredudtechnology is in the "bench" stage. (Document has 231 pages)