Concerns for northern beaches sand mining plan as Port Stanvac sand ruled incompatible

Who ever thought carting sand to a beach could be so complicated?

Sand carting at Semaphore beach in October last year. Picture: Paula Thompson

Port Stanvac has been ruled out as an appropriate site to mine the 500,000 cubic metres of sand needed to replenish the badly degraded West Beach.

According to the Department for Environment and Water, the sand for West Beach needs to have certain characteristics for appropriate beach and dune stabilisation.

Coarser sands with larger grain sizes are better suited because they are heavier and less likely to be moved along the coast by wind and waves.

The sand also needs to have a low percentage of silt and clay particles so that plumes aren’t caused after the sand is placed on the beach.

Department for Environment and Water director climate change, coast and marine, Neil McFarland, said the addition of external sources was needed to replace sand that has been eroded from West Beach over recent decades by natural littoral drift processes.

“An important part of the Securing the Future of Our Coast project is the replenishment of West Beach and Henley Beach South with 500,000 cubic metres of sand from outside of the metropolitan beach system,” he said.

Mr McFarland said with the closure of Mobil operations at Port Stanvac, a previously restricted area of the offshore sand deposits became accessible.

Unfortunately, detailed investigations concluded that the remaining offshore sand deposits at Port Stanvac are not suitable for West Beach’s replenishment.

Mr McFarland said other sources of external sand continue to be investigated for West Beach including other offshore sand deposits and land based quarry sands.

Sand carting at Semaphore beach in October last year drew a huge amount of negative comments from local residents on social media. Picture: Paula Thompson

But opposition deputy leader, and northern beaches resident, Susan Close said it was frustrating that it had taken so long to get an answer on whether Port Stanvac sand would be an appropriate site to source sand from for West Beach.

“It’s taken much more than a year (to get an answer),” she said.

“We know we need external sand for West Beach and every month that process is delayed, the more impact on the northern beaches (from sand carting).”

Mr McFarland said construction of a sand pumping system would allow efficient recycling of sand back to West Beach to stabilise the replenished coastline.

But Dr Close said the sand pumping being planned was a “horrific” proposition for Semaphore and Largs Bay.

She said the pump currently used at Glenelg made a “huge racket” three to four months a year.

“This is not just about the people who live in Semaphore and Largs Bay,” Dr Close said.

“We’re the beach for the north and northeastern suburbs, and those visitors are not going to want to be there while pumps are grinding away.”

Mr McFarland said the decision not to proceed with the Port Stanvac external sand source did not impact on the interim replenishment works required to stabilise West Beach, as well as the longer term strategy of using a new sand pumping system to recycle sand back to West Beach from areas where it builds up along the northern beaches.