Residents along Lake Erie spending thousands to protect homes from erosion

When Graham and Pat Andrews moved to their waterfront home in Amherstburg, Ont., they were drawn to the location for Lake Erie's beauty and the great local community. 

They knew that there would be maintenance requirements to live right on the water — but they hadn't quite anticipated the water level increases and erosion that would eventually come.

"We've noticed ever since we've moved in, 12 and a half years ago that the sand on the beach has been eroding more and more and more," Graham Andrews said. 

They explained that when they first moved into the house more than a decade ago, they'd had about ten feet of beach. That beach is now gone.

According to the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA), erosion "has gotten significantly worse" over the last few years. 

Director of watershed management services Tim Byrne explained that Lake Erie is in its third year of a predominantly high water level cycle.

That, in combination with climate change, storm events, and the lack of ice cover on the lakes right now are all "exacerbating the situation." 

"Without any ice cover on the lakes during this period of the year, your near-shore areas can be subject to scour resulting from winter wind directions," said Byrne, adding that winter winds are the most damaging.

He added that over the last five years ERCA has seen approximately a 30 per cent increase in permits specifically dealing with shoreline maintenance, and maintenance of break wall systems as a direct result of wave activity and erosion.

Thousands of dollars in work

The Andrews have had to do just that — put work into their property to protect their shoreline.

Their property has tolerated storms, strong waves and gusting winds. Their old dock was lost in a storm a couple of years ago, and since then they've had to build a new one. 

Since 2016, they've added extra armour stones to the jetties, added several two-tonne cement blocks to their shoreline, and reinforced a corner of the property along the shore with concrete. Furthermore, they've added Gabian stone along the edge of the break wall to break up the waves.

"It's the constant and more recently the more severe erosion that's been occurring that's necessitated these," Graham said.

The work they've had to do over the last few years has added up to about $50,000 which they hope will tide them over for another decade.

And they're not the only ones in their area.

"We've noticed that whenever somebody's having work done on their house, it's quite frequent that other people will come by and say, so, 'Who's doing your work? What are you having done? And how much is that costing?'" Pat said.

"Our neighbours definitely have all had various pieces of reconstruction done to help preserve their waterfront. There's quite a number who are not as situated as far back from the water as we are. And so they're a lot more concerned about the sinking that's happening as well."

She added that some neighbours have been taking their trees down because of the threat to property damage whenever a storm strikes. 

And while residents are spending thousands, Byrne explained that total cost to repairs around the region have totalled into the millions.

Beyond the erosion along their property line, Graham and Pat have been sad to see the loss of sand at Malden Beach, down the road from their house. 

They said it used to be a "big wide beach" used by the residents. 

Now, there's not much left and Graham said no one really goes there anymore. 

Erosion will likely continue, ERCA says

Graham says he hopes to see the water levels drop in the near future, but ERCA says right now, it doesn't look like the levels are dropping significantly or fast enough. 

Byrne explained that it can be difficult to get a complete snapshot of the situation, but that on average, there's significant down cutting that's affecting the entire region, and it will likely continue. 

"We will see break wall collapse occur and it will occur within the next two to five years as a result of what we've gone through for the last three years."

Graham said that the conditions have certainly provided a more "challenging" environment for his family. 

"Despite the attraction of being on the water which was just a wonderful place to bring up kids with all of the amenities that it afforded."

As for whether or not Andrews would ever consider moving if erosion continues into the future?

"No, I think I'll just keep pouring money into it as required to keep it above the water."