Making West Beach the best beach: Pumping stations and underground pipes to restore vanishing beach’s sand supply

West Beach will look very different in the years to come, as the government reveals a complex plan to restore its vanishing sand – see the before and after images.

New artist impressions have revealed what the future of the rapidly disappearing West Beach will look like under the state government’s plan to save the popular stretch of coastline.

The Environment Department on Monday will lodge a development application to build a sand recycling pipeline between Semaphore and West Beach.

The pipeline would move built-up sand from Adelaide’s northern coastline to badly eroding beaches, such as West Beach and Henley Beach South, via a network of pumping stations and underground pipes.

It would significantly reduce the controversial “carting” method of using noisy trucks to transfer the sand, which has previously sparked community protests.

Crucially, the pipeline would restore sand in front of the West Beach Surf Life Saving Club, which currently has just a rock wall separating it from the water.

Environment Minister David Speirs said the new pipeline would connect with the existing pumping system at West Beach and extend north to the Semaphore South breakwater.

“For far too long, residents of West Beach have watched on as their beach has disappeared before them,” Mr Speirs said.

“The development application means we are one step closer to delivering a long-term solution once and for all.”

He said reducing the reliance on trucks to move sand would make it safer for the community, as well as reducing noise and congestion.

An artist’s impression of how West Beach will look once the beach is replenished by a new sand recycling pipeline from Semaphore.

The new pipeline would be similar to the existing system between Glenelg and Kingston Park, which has been successfully operating since 2013.

Until the new Semaphore-to-West Beach pipeline is completed in the 2022-23 financial year, the government will continue taking sand from land-based quarries.

Liberal Colton MP Matt Cowdrey said it would secure West Beach’s future and “solve our erosion problem once and for all”.

Erosion issues reached boiling point in September 2019, when angry Semaphore locals threatened to stand in the way of sand-carting trucks, protesting against the noisy and disruptive practice.