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$1.15m package for emergency beach works

18/10/2019

15 Comments

 
PictureState Government funds sandbag wall in last-ditch effort to save the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club house. Photo: Geoff Ellis
By Catherine Watson
 
A GEOTEXTILE sandbag wall will be installed to try to save the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club, which is now just eight metres from the edge of the sand dunes.
 
At Inverloch today, Bass MP Jordan Crugnale announced State Government funding of $450,000 for the sandbag project with another $700,000 to develop long-term solutions over the wider Inverloch marine and coastal area.
 
“A long-term strategic approach must be taken to protect the social, environmental and economic values of our coastline and foreshores,” she said.

Ms Crugnale noted the local beach erosion was among the most aggressive in the country.  The beach has receded by six metres a year since 2013, and the rate of erosion appears to speeding up, with over a metre of sand dune disappearing over a single weekend in September.
 
Since then, some $250,000 has been spent on dumping truckloads of sand in front of the clubhouse, but it was always regarded as an emergency, short-term measure to save the clubhouse until the end of the storm surge season.
 
Most of the sand has already been washed away and another spate of storm surges is predicted next week.
 
An interagency working group – with representative from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Bass Coast Shire Council, Parks Victoria, Regional Roads Victoria, Gippsland Ports, and the Bunurong Land Council – has been working on a range of short- and long-term solutions.
 
DELWP’s Carole Macmillan said geotextile sandbags had been used successfully around many parts of the Victorian coast including Portsea. She said design of the works had been completed and tenders would be called as soon as possible.
 
It’s hoped the works can be completed in time for the summer beach season.
 
Bass Coast Mayor Brett Tessari welcomed today’s announcement which he said would give a bit of breathing space.
 
He said it was understandable that residents and beach goers were growing impatient at the apparent lack of action on the rapidly disappearing beach, but a lot of work had been going on behind the scenes.
 
The State Government funding will also be used to set up a Regional and Strategic Partnership under the new Marine and Coastal Act 2018 over the wider Inverloch marine and coastal area to inform and tailor strategic, long-term future investment into these coastal areas. 
15 Comments
Robert Kenyon
18/10/2019 04:09:17 pm

Geotextile? In other words, polypropylene or polyester bags in the ocean, just like the ones used in an attempt to stave off the erosion from the earlier surf club observation post. They all split, fell apart and got washed "away", just like these new ones will. The authorities (BCC or Parks) did the same on the path near Townsend Bluff, and they have been washed "away" also. But there is no "away" - the plastic shards stay in the ocean and don't degrade, as we all know.
Help from the state government is to be applauded and welcomed, but PLEASE find an environmentally appropriate way of doing it.
No more plastic!

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Ronnie Bauer
18/10/2019 04:48:57 pm

Very good but this is a case of the squeaky wheel getting the oil. The area on front of Cowes yacht club is is just the same precarious position. The erosion is barely away from the back fence and the trees are falling onto the beach just to the right of club.
A rock groin is urgently needed there as well.

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Jillian Verhardt
18/10/2019 04:59:57 pm

Managing Beaches: around the Southern Coastal Places, Gippsland Lakes to Esperance, have trialled measures to assist retention of sand. Eastern Coast towns Orbost, the entire Saphire Coast to near Sydney also notice change to their beaches. South and north of Perth, top end so Broome to Cairns and Gulf of Carpentaria do also notice change/s. Coastal response to beach lost is often left to each local Government, responses Rock/Sand walls, Bays placing attenuations small scale also found, sand keeps moving with Tides, weather/storm one of events, which can combine with other factors. It is possible to consider the outcomes the many beaches and coastal places find pre and post management attempts, how such could be funded and any given 1,2,3 or 10 yr interval. There are some who take a longer view, sums spent now are helpful, sums spent now can be a Rate or Tax Payer choice? Would some Engineers, Geomorphologists, Historians and Knowledgeable people be able to contribute to an Enduring Solution?

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Georgina Day
18/10/2019 05:37:25 pm

Not sure if it’s just the perspective of the photo, but it looks steeper than 45 degrees and if so, I hope council has put up barriers (not only on top of the slope, but also below). When the sand falls to a more stable angle, we don’t want anyone to be standing below the slope.

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Carl Fischer
18/10/2019 05:46:23 pm

Has sheet piling been considered? Piling of a heavy section in Corten steel to resist corrosion, with adequate stabilising returns to prevent movement due to wave action would surely cost a lot less than $1,150,000, and outlast sandbags, which have been tried before and found wanting.

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Bernie McComb
18/10/2019 05:58:19 pm

In good old days before sea level rise and strong storms, wave energy always ran out against the slope of beach.

When wave manages to hit vertical face, whether concrete, rocks or sand, what whacks up must come down again. When it does so, acceleration of water down and then horizontally, causes "toe scour", sucking sand from below vertical face such that rocks submerge, as at Cowes yacht club, and even concrete will be busted.

Interesting permanent solution at Glenelg SA, by Danish method, pipeline with big pump to return sand along beach, to restore slope so wave out of energy before it hits vertical concrete.

Reply
Chelle Destefano
19/10/2019 12:25:20 am

That's true and Glenelg where I used live for 18 years before coming back to Vic, Glenelg fared better with that pump which we here definitely need. I watch a lot of the coastal in southern of Adelaide erode in some parts but where there's pipe and rock it hasn't been too bad

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John Peck
18/10/2019 06:23:31 pm

I expect given the variable coastal profiles in Victoria and indeed around Australia, an appropriate localised response needs to be put in place.

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Geoff Ellis link
19/10/2019 06:26:02 am

Other Bass Coast residents will be glad. Meanwhile....

Jam Jerrup foreshore being eroded at 2m per year with 14m between the water and the road. The sea wall in Grantville fell over years ago, stairs at the back of Lionel Rose car park (Kilcunda) have been washed along the dune...............squeaky wheel?I agree with Ronnie so it must be an emergency of some description............ watch these spaces too? Please

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Amy Easton
19/10/2019 08:40:23 am

Great to hear steps have been taken to action this issue.
I am sure we will have many members welcome this progressive announcement.
Amy Easton, Secretary, Wonthaggi Business & Tourism Association

Reply
neville drummond link
19/10/2019 05:24:20 pm

Its not rocket science.Just have a look in front of the Inverloch Bowling Club and the over flow carpark next to the pier. You just need a little incentive . Perhaps a multi million dollar law suit from the Life Saving Club would do the trick

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ALF
19/10/2019 09:28:30 pm

So many bags have corroded within 10 years on the Australian coast its a joke MP Jordan Crugnale , Look up in NSW concrete pilots are the go for life

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Philby
21/10/2019 04:59:05 pm

Who was the bright spark that authorised the location of the building on an unstable sand dune fronting an ocean beach.

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Susan Hall
22/10/2019 10:22:05 am

Why not a permanent rock wall ?
Sand bags will finish up in the ocean like the last lot did .As they disintegrated they washed out to sea to become a hazard to all sea creatures large and small. Beach clean up day is tomorrow ,?????

Reply
Stephen Wilbourne
22/10/2019 10:23:11 am

As a follow-up to your 'news flash' on the Inverloch beach erosion, I thought you may like to see these photos I took on the rail trail at Kilcunda last week.

These are taken at the Lionel Rose Car Park where the "new" steps have been totally lost. I say "new" because they replaced the previous steps that were washed away about 10 years ago.

The first photo (6102) shows that the rail trail path is about to be undercut by the erosion. This will be very expensive to repair if it is allowed to continue.

I will send you a second email with some photos I took in early September showing the concrete footings at the base of the dune exposed. These were taken mid-way between the trestle bridge steps and the Lionel Rose car park steps which were already badly damaged. I have only been at Kilcunda since about 2005. Maybe you could ask your readers if anyone can recall how the base of dunes first came to be reinforced with concrete. It would be interesting to learn what it was like originally and how the work was done.

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