Residents and Mid Coast council at odds over Jimmys Beach erosion solution

Heavy swells stripped an additional two metres of sand from the erosion hot spot in recent days. The Boulevarde once again is the only thing stopping the march of erosion towards homes on the other side of the road. 

Mid Coast Council is due  to replenish the lost sand from the Winda Woppa stockpile in coming weeks. The method has been used for the past decade. 

In the longer term, the council is planning to use a sand transfer system involving a hopper, pumping system and pipeline to transfer to replenish Jimmys Beach.

“This option will provide a long term and more gradual supply of sand to Jimmys Beach, reducing the need to rely on trucking in sand in response to emergency storm events,” a spokeswoman said.

“Rock walls, groynes and other structures have all been examined, but establishing an ongoing sand nourishment program is the most financially sustainable option for maintaining Jimmys Beach and to provide a buffer to protect The Boulevarde behind it. Once operational, it's expected to reduce the total cost of protecting and maintaining the beach from the current $600,000 per year to $200,000.”

Winda Woppa Association spokesman Ken Garrard said the proposed solution was unsustainable. 

“While the whole of Port Stephens has obviously integrated problems  – Jimmys Beach erosion and loss of sea grasses, Myall River silting, loss of mud and sea grasses with invasion of sand at Pindimar and Bundabah, closure of the natural channel and sand migration at Shoal Bay – no previous studies have been broad ranging enough to view it as an integrated system,” he said. 

“Nor have any previous reports taken an approach to testing hypotheses via evidence-based research. Thus there has been no focus on holistic solution discovery that is scientifically or pragmatically supportable. 

“It is also proven that erosion is dramatically reduced if the beach slope is at ‘the natural repose’, in this case between eight and 12 degrees, which has never been installed on Jimmys Beach by any authority. We believe that slope should be part of any solution, whether it is temporary like a sand transfer system or permanent. 

“It is our contention then that we should commission a broad-ranging study that views the problems as integrated and tests the available hypotheses eg. assist nature in rebuilding Myall Point, dredge the main channel and allow the Corrie channel to silt, boomerang-shaped artificial subsurface reef inside the heads, and others to discover one or more components of a solution, taking into account the impacts on resident and visitor amenity as well as the tourism and fishing industries. We would then model that in a computer to identify how effective it is likely to be, then model it in a wave tank to confirm the solution, then build temporary structures to prove the solution, then turn the temporary to permanent. 

“We believe this to be the most cost-effective road to a holistic permanent solution.”