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NATCHEZ ON THE WATERFRONT 23


Google ‘sustainability’ and you will get


some 39 million hits. In some respects, it’s great that sustainability is so omnipresent, but at times I must admit to a certain amount of sustainability fatigue and I know that if you put five people in a room you will come up with over 15 different meanings.


grounds, thus pointing up differences in perspectives. I’ve often argued that shade is not such a bad thing) as attested to by the fish that gather within the shade of pontoons at marinas. Yet, the other day, I was on-site


with a building inspector, who was talking about green building and LEED certification and was bemoaning the issue that many of the materials do not hold up and that they take more resources to produce than many more ‘traditional’ materials. There was a discount clothing chain that advertised that ‘an educated consumer is our best customer’. Customers are becoming more and more sophisticated and, by being able to click on the internet, they have access to a vast amount of information. What does all this have to do with marinas? The answer is simple. We all want to do the right thing, be environmentally-friendly and far-sighted in managing our expenditures and gaining the best value for our facilities and our customers that is long-lasting (all part of sustainability). The big question is: what is the right thing? The answer is: it depends on your site-specific location, including weather and climate; on your long- term outlook and plans, including capital expenditure, redevelopment


Example of rock riprap.


programs and financial abilities; and on the physical characteristics of the facility. All too frequently, one is lulled


into a sense of one size fits all and that, more often than not, is not the case. In undertaking this article, I did a quick internet search of some of the leading products and companies and their claims of being environmentally-sustainable, whether by LEED or certification from other approaches and continents. What was fascinating is that each proclaimed their


product as being the best and being certified, but did not elaborate as to why they may be more environmentally desirable. There are many ways to manage


one’s approach from the types of shoreline interface to berthing facilities to water and electricity consumption to numerous other products. Each would take pages of discussion, but on a simplistic basis, we’ll try to sum up a few examples. Rock riprap is the most


sustainable, but also requires more land and, in many cases, can


be more costly, particularly if the right stone is not locally available. Composite sheet piling needs more walers and tiebacks at various elevations to sustain the loads and is limited in its length and driving abilities; timber sheeting may not have the desired longevity and, like composites, has limited lengths and driving abilities. Steel can sustain loads better when used in deeper water and poorer soil conditions. Traditional wooden docks do not have longevity in climates that are continued on 25


JUNE 2014 • MARINA EURO-REPORT


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