Wollongong Council explains what's going on with our sandy ocean pools/Illawarra Mercury/ 23 November 2023

Wollongong Council explains what's going on with our sandy ocean pools

Transcript

00:00 Have you noticed just how much sand is on the city's beaches at the moment?

00:04 Rock pool swimmers have certainly noticed it.

00:06 People are calling it unusual, but it's actually part of the natural cycle of beaches.

00:11 What we're seeing is mainly the result of very low wave conditions,

00:16 where the waves help to build beaches by moving sand from the surf zone onto the dry beach.

00:22 It's a pattern that has been associated with El Nino,

00:25 where we generally see calmer conditions allowing the majority of beaches to gradually replenish sand.

00:30 It is in stark contrast to previous years,

00:33 where beaches were generally in a more eroded state after years of stronger storms activity due to La Nina conditions.

00:41 The level of sand is both good and bad.

00:43 From an asset protection perspective, it's a great thing.

00:47 We have a nice buffer of sand for when the next big storm or set of storms come along.

00:51 This helps protect our coastal assets such as surf clubs, shared pathways and parks.

00:56 We also have nice wide sandy beaches for our community to enjoy in time for summer.

01:01 A downside is the impact the sand levels may have on rock pools and pathways.

01:06 It can make cleaning and maintenance trickier,

01:09 particularly when we also need to work around the tides, seas and swells to do our work.

01:14 Much of the work we do at Council is focused on protecting and maintaining the coast,

01:19 as we know it is a very valuable place for our community.

01:22 We will continue to monitor beach volumes and the movement of sand

01:26 to help us understand how the coastline is changing and use this knowledge to inform our future work.

01:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:34 (upbeat music)