If you are faced with erosion that threatens your use of the shore and perhaps also endangers a substantial investment in shorefront construction, you need to decide how much you are willing to do in order to save or improve your property. These resources vary greatly, as do the values of shoreline properties and the severity of erosion threats. The ultimate decision rests with your own evaluation of the expected benefits from any erosion control measure and the investment you decide to make. The first step in this evaluation is the identification of the specific nature of your problem. The preceding sections of this document give you an idea of the suitability of various erosion protection measures for your particular problem and your intended uses of the waterfront.
More information is available from sources listed in the section titled More Information.
In many cases, you will need to give some thought to the possible effects that erosion control measures on your property will have on the property of others. As discussed earlier, many of the measures that can be taken to protect your property may result in increased erosion of the neighboring shoreline. When several property owners share a waterfront, it often makes good economic sense to cooperate in building a single device to retard or arrest erosion, such as a filled or perched beach , breakwater , bulkhead , or revetment . A cooperative measure may well cost substantially less than the sum of the expenses of individual protection, and it has the added advantage of protecting against flank erosion. In some cases, it may be wise for entire communities to cooperate in erosion control.