Unintended Consequences
When oncoming waves hit breakwaters, their erosive power is concentrated on these structures, which are some distance away from the coast. This creates an area of slack water between the breakwaters and the coast. Sediment deposition can thus occur in these waters and beaches can be built up or extended there. Breakwaters also prevent nearby unprotected sections of beaches from receiving fresh supplies of sediments and they may gradually shrink due to erosion in a process known as longshore drift. On the other hand, breakwaters can also encourage erosion of beach deposits from their base and thus increase longshore sediment transport.
Breakwaters are subject to damage, and overtopping by big storms can lead to big problems with draining any water that gets behind them.
Read more about this topic: Breakwater (structure)
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