Wave gauges will measure wave activity near Saco jetty

Wave gauges placed near the Saco Jetty will give data on how a spur jetty will impact wave action off the coast of Camp Ellis.

The Saco Jetty, constructed at the mouth of the Saco River in the 1800s to create a smoother shipping channel in the river, has long been blamed for erosion along the Saco Shoreline, as it has displaced wave energy and the natural flow of sand.

The U.S. Army Corps is scheduled to begin construction this spring on a spur jetty that will run perpendicular from the main jetty, extending out like an arm on the north side. The spur jetty, it is believed, will slow down erosion. The project is anticipated to be completed in Summer 2027, according to a recent update from the U.S. Army Corps New England Division.

The City of Saco spent $10,000 on two wave gauges to measure wave activity just north of the jetty. On Sunday, Will Kochtitzky, assistant professor at University of New England’s School of Marine and Environmental Programs his team installed the equipment.

The gauges are anchored to the bottom of the ocean with a cement mooring and will track data on wave energy. They are attached to a bright yellow buoy so they can be retrieved to access data. The devices measure water pressure 30 times per second to determine change in water height and are accurate to a third of a millimeter, said Kochtitzky.

“The idea of this project is to directly measure the impact of the soon to be constructed spur jetty,” said Kochtitzky at the Saco Bay Symposium last week. “This will tell us exactly how much the spur jetty reduces the wave energy.

The gauges will be removed during construction of the spur jetty and place back in the water after the construction is completed.

“We plan to have a month to get a sampling before the construction starts. It will allow us to measure the effectiveness of the spur jetty and to track changes in the time following the completion of the work,” said local coastal advocacy group SOS Saco Bay in a recent Facebook post announcing the deployment of the gauges.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.