Oyster reefs also help clean the water: a single large oyster can filter up to 50 gallons (190 litres) of water a day, cleaning it of pollutants and undesirable nutrients. As oysters reproduce and repopulate by latching onto discarded shells, the breakwaters will grow larger on their own. The design of these reef-like barriers not only provides protection from waves and flooding, but also creates a welcoming habitat for marine life, particularly oysters for which Raritan Bay was once famous. The target area for a proposed mile-long system of "living" breakwaters was in Raritan Bay, off Staten Island. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched the Rebuild by Design program to shore up protection against future storms. In the wake of the Hurricane Sandy disaster, the U.S. "Our recent testing of new barrier concepts indicates that they are strong contenders for defusing the dangers." "We have to change the way we think about coastal protection and resiliency," he says. As climate change continues, their regularity and rage are expected to increase.Īccording to Andrew Cornett, principal researcher at the National Research Council of Canada's (NRC) Ocean, Coastal, and River Engineering Research Centre, this new environmental reality calls for increasingly creative storm defence systems that serve more than one purpose. And the effect on the environment was immeasurable.įurious superstorms lashing shorelines around the world are 3 times as frequent as they were 100 years ago. More than 200 people died along its path from the Caribbean to the northern states. The cost of damage to the state was $32 billion, with $19 billion of that in NYC alone. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit New York City (NYC) and the barrier islands along the New Jersey shore. The project has also been covered widely in The New York Times Smithsonian Magazine The Associated Press Scientific American and many more publications.Physical model testing of the living breakwaters at the NRC coastal wave basin research facility.įuturistic breakwaters shield shorelines and ecosystems from superstorms. SCAPE Founding Principal Kate Orff joined Christiane Amanpour on CNN / PBS to discuss the project and urgency for funding natural infrastructure. Read the article, ‘Manufactured Nature,’ here. In 2021, s ociologist Eric Klinenberg covered the Living Breakwaters project and over a decade of SCAPE work for The New Yorker. Learn more | To learn more about Living Breakwaters, visit the NYS Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR) website. As an outcome of this process, design team lead SCAPE and BOP developed an open-access Living Breakwaters Curriculum. The breakwaters will also be constructed with “reef ridges” and “reef streets” that provide diverse habitat space, with live oyster installation expected to follow construction completion.īeyond the physical breakwaters, the project aims to build social resilience in Tottenville through educational programs for local schools in partnership with the Billion Oyster Project (BOP), as well as years of engagement through the Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC), a coalition of local stakeholders. Informed by extensive hydrodynamic modeling, the breakwaters are also designed to slow and, eventually, reverse decades of beach erosion along the Tottenville shoreline. The breakwaters are designed to reduce the impact of climate-intensified weather events on the low-lying coastal community of Tottenville, which experienced some of the most damaging waves in the region and tragic loss of life during Superstorm Sandy. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) after Superstorm Sandy. The Living Breakwaters concept was developed by a large, multi-disciplinary team led by SCAPE as part of a winning proposal for Rebuild By Design, the design competition launched by the U.S. The project consists primarily of 2,400 linear feet of near-shore breakwaters-partially submerged structures built of stone and ecologically-enhanced concrete units-that will break waves, reduce (and eventually reverse) erosion of the beach along Conference House Park, and provide a range of habitat spaces for oysters, fin fish and other marine species. Widely considered a model for climate-adaptive green infrastructure, Living Breakwaters is a $107 million project with a layered approach to risk reduction-enhancing physical, ecological and social resilience along the South Shore of Staten Island.
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