Kingston District Council will receive $1.953m funding support for a much-needed extension of its existing Wyomi Beach Rock Seawall.
Outgoing Mayor Kay Rasheed said erosion at Wyomi Beach had been of significant concern for council and the community over a long period of time.
“We acknowledge that coastal management challenges, such as erosion and inundation, will only increase into the future, and that we needed a well-informed, planned approach for effective and responsible coastal management for future generations,” she said.
“This came by way of a Coastal Adaptation Strategy (CAS) which identified future pathways and priority actions.
“The CAS identified the beach area, to the north and south of the existing Wyomi seawall, experiences on-going erosion of approximately 1m/year and is highly vulnerable to storm erosion and that given the proximity of assets and properties to the shoreline, the Wyomi beach area was identified as requiring immediate adaptation to reduce risks.
“The last thing our community needs is a repeat of the devastating dune and infrastructure damage caused by severe storms in 2016, which saw a large slice of our coastline disappear into the sea, leaving roads and residential properties exposed.”
Mayor Rasheed said since then, council with state government support had invested millions of dollars in both interim and long-term protection measures including geotextile sandbags, a 412 metre rock seawall and in more recent time, annual sand nourishment campaigns to protect either end of the rock seawall which has become vulnerable and exposed to ongoing erosion during the winter months.
“Even with the existing seawall in place, the CAS identified the beach, dunes, geotextile sand containers, footpaths and other private infrastructure remain at risk and that if we do nothing, by 2050 Marine Parade and multiple foreshore properties will also be at risk”, she said.
Chief executive Nat Traeger said council had been undertaking annual sand nourishment campaigns whilst it undertook significant engagement with its community about adaptation pathways for Wyomi Beach.
“The pathways, which focussed on ‘defend’ or ‘retreat’ were considered by the community in late 2021 and early this year, where it was unanimously considered that ‘defend’ was the only palatable option,” she said.
“We left no stone unturned in reaching the decision to defend and are very satisfied we reached the right decision for our community and ratepayers.
“In reaching the decision to defend without nourishment, our community needs to be aware that whilst this is the most cost-effective outcome at $3.9m net present value (NPV) by 2050, it will result in loss of the beach in front of the seawall in the next few years.”
Ms Traeger said, while the NPV was $3.9m, overwhelmingly the immediate cost was the construction of the rock seawall itself, coming in at an estimated $2.6m for a design option that strikes a balance between beach and dune impacts.
The preferred seawall alignment envisages a 175 metre extension to the south and a 170 metre extension to the north of the existing seawall.
“The council is very appreciative of the funding announcement, which is through the Australian
Government’s 2022-2023 Coast and Estuarine Risk Mitigation Program,” she said.
“There was $50m available nationally with South Australian securing a total of $6.7m, making the $1.953m to Kingston District Council a very welcome funding injection, without it, the project simply could not proceed.
“Planning and detailed design for the construction of the rock seawall will start immediately.
“Council will continue to engage with the community about the project, specifically once a timeframe for completion has been finalised.”
