An open letter sent to Premier Peter Malinauskas from a group of coastal community groups has criticised the government’s newly announced approach to a dredging trial to replenish West Beach with sand.

Announced in late September, 90,000 cubic metres of sand will be dredged and delivered to West Beach as part of a trial dubbed as a potential solution to Adelaide’s beach sand loss.

Dredging has already started as part of the trial, which was one recommendation from the Adelaide Beach Management Review (ABMR), alongside delivering quarried sand to the shoreline.

Footage shared with InDaily shows a hopper barge being tugged out to sea yesterday just north of the West Beach Surf Life Saving Club. The ship will be used to cart sand to West Beach.

Under the EPA-approved trial, sand is being dredged from an area south of North Haven Marina and delivered by barge to West Beach. The Department of Environment and Water (DEW) also announced that the trial will be expanded to dredge sand from an area about 500 metres off West Beach and from around the West Beach Boat Harbour.

DEW said the target volume for the trial is 90,000 cubic metres of sand, “although this could range from 75,000 cubic metres to 150,000 cubic metres”.

The dredge management plan identifies the following potential maximum volumes from each dredging zone:

• North Haven: up to 20,000 cubic metres
• Sand bar off West Beach: up to 100,000 cubic metres
• West Beach Boat Harbour: up to 30,000 cubic metres

“It is important to note that the total amount of sand dredged in each location could vary”, a DEW spokesperson said.

DEW said the two extra zones around West Beach were selected “after extensive scientific testing, which included determining suitable sand sources and considering numerous environmental factors, including not disturbing seagrass”.

“Dredging sand with different characteristics from multiple locations will provide important information to help determine if dredging can be used to maintain a healthy beach system,” it said.

Source: DEW.

But West Beach and Henley Beach community groups including the Henley Sailing Club, Adelaide Sailing Club, West Beach Surf Life Saving Club and more have rejected the new approach.

In a letter sent to Premier Peter Malinauskas and shared with InDaily, the community groups said the new approach of dredging sand off the coast of West Beach and around the West Beach Boat Harbour was announced “with no notice nor meaningful consultation to the West Beach Community”.

The AMBR, released last year, suggested dredging of sand from the seabed at “larger offshore deposits (subject to further investigations and approvals)” as the first recommendation.

Further, one option of Recommendation 2 in the AMBR was to collect sand from a seabed “using a small dredge between Largs Bay and North Haven”.

The group said it was worried that the central beaches shoreline would “suffer damage due to the agitation of settled sand being dredged closer to shore, only increasing the likelihood of greater northerly drift”.

A hopper barge will be used to cart sand south to West Beach. Photo: Supplied.

The Save West Beach group said it felt “abandoned by the very government who promised the restoration of our iconic central suburban sandy beaches, which have been continuously dredged since the building of the Adelaide Boat Harbour more than twenty-five years ago”.

“Our community is angry and feeling completely let down by your government and this decision,” the group said.

“We are therefore seeking your intervention before any sand is dredged from West Beach and a transparent two-way consultative process is implemented.

“Any dredging of the West Beach offshore sand bar is simply unacceptable.”

Charles Sturt councillor Kenzie van der Nieuwelaar offered her support of the Save West Beach group on social media, saying: “The Government must reconsider their decision to ignore the findings of the ABMR and CEASE the planned dredging of off-shore sand at West Beach before further damage is done to West Beach”.

“We will continue to fight for equity and science-based solutions for managing the metropolitan beaches,” van der Nieuwelaar said.

A DEW spokesperson said the ABMR recommended investigating the feasibility of dredging as a method to manage sand between West Beach and North Haven, and that this included “considering potential sand sources both within this zone and further offshore.

“The current dredging trial is entirely consistent with the review’s recommendations,” they said.

“The dredging trial combined with truck sand carting operations are delivering a combined 300,000 cubic metres of sand to West Beach this financial year. This is a significant increase on previous years.

“This extra sand will make a big difference in combating costal erosion on West Beach and creating a healthy metropolitan beach system that everyone can enjoy.”

The spokesperson added that the sites were chosen after “extensive scientific testing”, which considered “suitable sand characteristics, including grain size, mineral components and potential contamination. It also considered potential impacts on seagrass and aquatic life”.

“The sand bar 500m off West Beach is one of three dredging sites involved in the trial, which has been approved by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA),” they said.

“The other sites are an area south of the North Haven Marina and an area around the West Beach Boat Harbour.

“The sand bar 500m off West Beach is located inside a reef, and modelling shows taking sand from this site will have a negligible effect on wave energy reaching West Beach. Only about 10-15 per cent of the sand bar will be dredged as part of the trial. Moving this sand closer to the shore will increase the protection of West Beach.”

Further, the trial provides an opportunity to “test various methods of delivering dredged sand to West Beach while other long-term sand sources are investigated”, the spokesperson said.

“There was extensive community consultation as part of the Adelaide Beach Management Review, and Department for Environment and Water staff will continue to meet with community groups and key stakeholders as the dredging trial continues.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas and Attorney-General Kyam Maher were approached for comment.