Abbeville man invented simple way to help slowdown erosion along coastline

Louisiana coastline is slowly disappearing because of erosion, and there is a race to find ways to slow it down.
One man, who lives in Abbeville but is originally from Arizona, has come up with what he is confident will slow wave action and keep sediment from washing away into the Gulf of Mexico.
Joseph Lazaro created Bayou Backer Erosion Control. Lazaro’s solution to slowing down an eroding shoreline is to plant strips of high strength plastic into the ground three feet from the shoreline.
The plastic strips, which are 1/16 of an inch thick, are placed along the coast to create a wave buffer. They are pushed three feet into the mud in around three feet of water.
Overtime material and sediment would be created around the buffer strips, slowing down erosion.
He had the strips tested at LSU, and it showed the strips slowed down the wave action by 65 percent.
Lazaro, who has introduced his product to the Police Jury, has also learned that selling Bayou Backers to land owners who have erosion problems is not that simple.
Applying for and getting permits approved by the Corps of Engineers is a long process.
He did get a permit to place 800 strips along the banks of Schooner Bayou. He recently put 85 of the 800 strips along the bayou’s banks paid for by the landowner.
While he waits for Corps approval for more permits, land continues to erode along the coastline, he said.
“The problem is landowners need to step up where they can and get control of their situation,” said Lazaro. “They need to get something out there and put a band-aid on the big wounds created by the hurricanes. For the last 10 years they have been waiting for a levee or anything else.”
Vermilion Parish residents were hoping that the Corps of Engineers would one day build a protection levee along the coast of Vermilion and Iberia parishes. But that does not look like it will happen anytime soon. In the meantime, Joseph said the coast continues to wash away.
“Do you know how much sedimentation you can collect in 10 years? A lot,” he said. “If you are watching your inheritance (land) washout from under your feet, I don’t know why you belong to a government program that has no start date, no idea when it will be funded and no guarantee it will be built right.”
In the meantime, while government works at a slow pace to stop erosion, Joseph said Louisiana residents continue to watch its shoreline disappear, which, he said, is playing into his hands.
“Louisiana is losing a football field of land (a year),” he added. “Government is spending $1 million a mile for rocks. They are not going to get very far when there are thousands of miles of channel getting hammered.”
Placing Bayou Backers along the banks of channels, bayous and rivers would slowdown wave action created by boats.
Putting Bayou Backers along the shoreline is a lot cheaper than placing rocks, he said,
To have one plastic plug placed in the ground, it cost $5 per plug. To place Bayou Backers along a 2,000 foot long shoreline, it would cost $120,000. The plugs would act as of barrier to slow down wave action and stop sediment from being washed back into the water.