Hard Engineering, Disadvantages! :D

Hello once again! :D Now for Hard Engineering's disadvantages! :D

No matter how effective/efficient an appliance/structure may be, it will still have it's flaws and that's normal cause nothing is perfect! :)

Seawalls (Hard Engineering)

Seawalls are made to prevent erosion of the coasts, however, a seawall may not protect a coast from erosion in the long run. This is because, when the waves break against the seawall, the energy from the waves is redirected downwards/to the sides of the seawalls resulting in a strong backwash which wears away base/side of the seawall and causing it to weaken and thus, eventually, it will collapse. Hence, seawalls have to be carefully and constantly maintained.


Furthermore, Seawalls are expensive to built! They are estimated to cost 1 million pound(S$3 million) to build a one kilometer stretch of seawall in England.

Groynes (Hard Engineering)

Groyne is a low wall built at right angles to prevent materials from being transported away by the longshore drift as it interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediments

The disadvantage for groynes is that on the other side of the groyne, the beach will not be replenished by materials carried by the longshore drift thus, the beach further down the coast may erode away. This can lead to cliff collapse and plummeting house prices and destruction of private land in the region making it difficult for affected homeowners to move out.

Also, no matter how useful a series of groynes is to help reduce the effect of coastal erosion, they still spoil the natural beauty of the coastal environment.

Gabions (Hard Engineering)

Gabions, as we all already know is a wire cage containing small rocks to form a wall to protect the coast against erosion and also other coastal structures. However, theses gabions can be easily destroyed by powerful waves that occur during storms. Also, the wires of the cage can rust easily thus, they are easily destroyed.



Furthermore, gabions too destroy the natural beauty of the coastal environment they may take up quite a lot of space up on the beach as lots of gabions are needed to provide plenty of protection. Also, the rocks inside the cage would become worn down and the whole cage would be needed to be taken out and replaced. Plus, if the gabions are stacked up in a wall and a lower one needs replacing this will mean taking out all the ones above it as well before replacing it and rebuilding the wall. this would take lots of time and money! OH, and they have a short lifespan of less then 15 years only! NOT GOOOOD! :(

Okay so that's all the disadvantages of Hard Engineering for coastal protection measures! Soft Engineering would be written by Rosma! :) so stay tuned for her post! :)

Nous aimons la Géographie;
Diyanah