Repair of Saco Bay jetty awaits solution

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won’t proceed with a proposed renovation of the Camp Ellis jetty in Saco but will consider other options to slow beach erosion in the Camp Ellis oceanside community.

The corps said Thursday that the proposed work on the jetty would be ineffective. Instead, it will study other options that could include extending breakwaters off the existing jetty or building a new T-shaped breakwater out from the beach.

To determine the best approach, the corps will begin studying waves in the area to determine how best to remedy the erosion problem that has claimed 36 houses in the past century.

To do that, the corps has hired the Woods Hole Group in Massachusetts to install wave gauges on moorings near the jetty to study for the first time how the ocean water actually moves in the area. The company is scheduled to anchor the moorings the second week of March and collect information for two to three months.

“We needed to know what was really happening offshore to make an intelligent proposal,” said Duban Montoya, the corps project manager for Camp Ellis.

The jetty, which is about a mile long and located at the mouth of the Saco River, was built in 1867 and was extended several times over the years. The problem is that waves bounce off the jetty, then lash the beach with more water, causing it to erode.

The Maine Geological Survey says the ocean destroyed 36 homes and eroded an estimated 4 million cubic yards of sand between 1908 and 1998. Officials fear that a fierce storm could cause the ocean to breach the peninsula around Riverside Avenue and North Avenue, making an island of the Camp Ellis pier area.

“It’s possible that that could happen,” said Bob Marvinney, the state geologist. “There is one point where waves often wash over during regular high tides.”

Last year, Congress approved $350,000 to study remedies. It approved $1.2 million this month for changes in the jetty. The Senate has committed a total of $3.5 million to cover the estimated costs of the project.

The corps had planned to add material to the north edge of the jetty to increase friction with the passing water, which has worn smooth the first 1,000 feet of the jetty. But as corps officials reviewed the project with technical models of wave movement, they determined that the so-called “roughening” wouldn’t work.

Instead of wasting millions of dollars on that project, the corps hired the Woods Hole Group to examine the wave movements.

Future work, however, could be hindered by funding and legal obstacles.

The corps estimates that a new T-shaped rock breakwater extending from the beach into the ocean would cost $5 million. But Maine law now prohibits building such a structure on the beach, so legislation would be needed to pursue that choice.

Another option would be to extend one or two perpendicular breakwater “spurs” off the jetty 500 to 750 feet, at an estimated cost of $4 million to $7.5 million. But that proposal is complicated by a $5 million federal limit on this type of corps project.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced federal legislation Thursday allowing the corps to complete the project even if it becomes more expensive.

“Until you see it with your own eyes and see the devastation that has occurred, it’s really difficult to imagine just how serious the erosion is,” Collins said.