Plenty of sand at West Beach, so carting to pause for our summer break

There’s plenty of beach at West Beach, as trucks have restored the seaside playground, and carting works will now take a break for summer.

Christmas at West Beach will be nice and “sandy” for the first time in years.

The state government has spent the past few months trucking in sand from the Mount Compass quarry and dumping it at the foreshore of the West Beach Surf Club.

Environment and Water Minister David Speirs said the sand replenishment work would now pause and resume on January 31 to give locals and visitors uninterrupted access to West Beach for the holidays.

Sand carting at West Beach. Picture Roy VanDerVegt

“There’s a finite amount of sand in Adelaide’s beach system which is why bringing in sand from external sources, as well as recycling sand from where it builds up along our coastline is needed to retain Adelaide’s long, sandy beaches,” Mr Speirs said.

“By adding a large volume of sand to West Beach from a land-based quarry we’ve been able to significantly improve the quality of the beach just in time for the busy Christmas period.”

Mr Speirs said sand on Adelaide’s beaches naturally drifted from south to north along the coastline.

Without moving sand, some of the beaches would erode to rock and clay, as was starting to happen at West Beach.