Truckloads of beach sand washed away in high tide
Dumped sand intended to replenish Adelaide’s beaches was lost in a high tide yesterday. See the photos and videos.
Quarried sand dumped on Adelaide beaches was washed away yesterday by a high tide, leaving West Beach and Henley Beach looking bare in the aftermath.
Locals saw “at least 15 trucks” lined up on Burbridge Road leading to the Henley Sailing Club beach ramp yesterday.
Sand delivery trucks lined up along Burbridge Road yesterday. Photo: Supplied
Sand was dumped on Henley Beach South as part of a long-running program intended to replenish the beach as part of an intended solution for Adelaide’s beach sand loss.
The Department of Environment and Water said none of the sand delivered to Henley Beach South yesterday was affected.
Water inundating West Beach during the high tide yesterday. Photo: Save West Beach Sand.
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The aftermath of the high tide this morning. Photo: Save West Beach Sand
One local told InDaily that yesterday’s sand replenishment efforts was “like watering a garden in wet weather”.
Alan Young, a West Beach local and member of the community group Save West Beach Sand, said a “significant amount got washed away in the tide last night, straight into the water”.
“I don’t see any sense in trying to cart sand when the tides are so high,” he said.
“We have to work with nature. The beach system is all one beach – you can’t just fix up one piece of the beach. We have to work with this whole beach as a system.”
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He added he was also concerned about the amount of dead marine life that washed up on the beach, including a bronze whaler and garfish.
“We’ve never seen this dead marine stuff before,” he said.
“There’s been no review of the impact of putting in nearly 300,000 cubic metres of sterile sand from the quarry.”
Dead marine life that washed up on West Beach in the last 24 hours. Photos: Supplied
Sand delivered to Henley Beach last week was also washed away, leaving very little left on the coastline.
Sand delivered to Henley Beach last week. Photo: Ben Kelly/InDaily
Henley Beach this morning, 25 June. Photo: Ben Kelly/InDaily
A Department of Environment and Water spokesperson said sand delivery operations to West Beach were completed on Monday, however works at Henley Beach South are continuing.
“Sand deliveries continued to Henley Beach South where the sand is stockpiled at the ramp, then delivered to the required zone when conditions allow. Deliveries of sand to the stockpile area at Henley Beach South was not affected by yesterday’s weather forecast,” the spokesperson said.
“The purpose of bringing in the sand is to provide shoreline protection. If we don’t bring this sand in, beaches can continue to erode and infrastructure such as footpaths, roads and even homes and businesses become at risk of getting damaged.”
1,147m3 of sand was dumped at Henley Beach South yesterday, and 27,748 m3 of sand has been delivered to Henley Beach South since the replenishment program began, which is 92.5 per cent of the 30,000 m3 target.
Delivery to West Beach was completed on Monday with crews reaching the target of 200,000m3 for this financial year, according to the Department of Environment and Water.
