Getting sand back on Hallett Cove beach would cost $13 million
Building a sea pool at Hallett Cove would not significantly increase sand, a study has found. To get sand back on the beach would cost another $13 million for a breakwater and carting.
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Getting sand back on Hallett Cove beach would cost more than $13 million – a feasibility study has revealed.
A final report – commissioned by the State Government and Marion Council – into the feasibility of a sea pool at Hallett Cove has found it would be unlikely to significantly increase sand on the beach.
The principal engineer of the Water Research Laboratory at the University of New South Wales, James Carley, has decided it would not be possible to create a sandy beach at Heron Way – the cove’s beachfront roadway – through building the sea pool alone.
Instead, he says, a structure to trap sand – such as an offshore breakwater – would have to be built and then 500,000 cubic metres of sand deposited at a cost of $13 million.
It would cost an additional $2 million per year to replenish the sand.
Restoring sand to Hallett Cove’s rocky foreshore was hoped to be achieved through the sea pool project.
But the report, presented to Marion Council, said a sea pool would have one major benefit – supplying about 75m of protection to the Heron Way embankment.
“It would be technically feasible to integrate an ocean pool into a scheme to create a sandy beach, with the ocean pool acting as a groyne or being part of an offshore breakwater,” the report finds.
Although that would also “introduce additional complexities, uncertainties and risks”, an ocean pool could be “constructed and maintained for a much lower amount than the construction and maintenance of a beach”.
A concrete sea pool consisting of a main pool and a wading pool as well as decking, seating, toilets and change rooms would cost approximately $5 million.
About 75,000 people currently visit the Hallett Cove foreshore each year.
Sea pools are popular in NSW – and Marion Council estimates the economic benefit of building one could be as much as $4 million a year.
Nearly 5000 people have signed an online petition calling for the pool to be built.
South Australia has only one sea pool, at Edithburgh, on Yorke Peninsula, built in the 1930s.
The council will now send the report to Environment Minister David Speirs for feedback.