Honolulu officials removed a lifeguard tower in Waikīkī that was damaged by large swells in August 2020. The city is taking the opportunity to reevaluate its coastline infrastructure as sea levels rise.
For the last few years, the tower's concrete base sat on the shoreline of Queen's Beach, often surrounded by breaking waves.
There was much more distance between the tower and the ocean when it was built, according to former Waikīkī lifeguard Dolan Eversole.
"There was sand all around it, dry sand," Eversole said. "And that just slowly eroded away."
Now, Eversole works as a coastal geologist with the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant Program focusing on strategies to combat sea level rise and erosion along Waikīkī’s beaches.
Eversole said the tower served as a marker of just how much the coastline has changed.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources says that Oʻahu has lost approximately 5.5 miles of beach to erosion.
As sea levels rise, officials have to get creative about shoreline infrastructure. One approach is mobile towers on sleds or skids that can be moved back as the sand erodes or taken off the beach entirely during severe weather events like hurricanes and tsunamis.
"Being more flexible gives us the best chance at preserving equipment during natural disasters," said Capt. Adam Lerner, Honolulu Ocean Safety Division’s supervisor for operations on the south shore.
But moving a lifeguard tower is a lot different than moving a road or a skyscraper, and much of Waikīkī's development is vulnerable to sea level rise.
In the long term, Eversole said there's only so much we can do to fight rising seas in Waikīkī.
"In the 50 to 100-year time frame, Waikīkī will look a lot different," Eversole said. "Water will encroach into Waikīkī proper as we know it pretty much regardless of what we do."
