Maintaining Adelaide’s beaches with new replenishment program

The Government of South Australia’s Department for Environment and Water said today that Adelaide will continue to have some of the best beaches in the world with the state government unveiling plans for programs to both restore metropolitan beaches and continually address coastal erosion hotspots.

After extensive research, trials and public consultation, a new replenishment program has been developed to manage erosion hot spots and sand build-up along the coast from West Beach to North Haven.

Following relevant approvals, the replenishment program will include a once-off mass restoration to restore West Beach with 400,000 cubic meters of sand collected from north of the Outer Harbor channel breakwater.

In addition, the state government will establish an annual replenishment program with an estimated 90,000 cubic meters of sand each year collected from the northern coastline, primarily from sites where sand builds up at places like Semaphore and Largs Bay.

The program will see sand collected by near shore extraction at several locations, before being barged to West Beach, and deposited into the water near the shore. Wave action will then bring the sand onshore to build up the beach. This will maintain beaches to levels which not only provide great sandy beaches for the community but also provides important buffers to protect key infrastructure including roads, homes and businesses, the Government said.

This type of dredging is the most common method of beach replenishment globally, as well as in Australia. It was a recommendation of the Adelaide Beach Management Review, and supported by peer-reviewed scientific advice to government. Its viability was also confirmed by an operational trial.

The sand replenishment program is estimated to cost $190 million over 20 years. The replenishment program will be subject to approval and licensing by the Environment Protection Authority.

A review will also take place after five years to evaluate the success of the beach management program. The replenishment program is expected to start in 2027 and will replace the current program involving sand delivery by truck.