Kelsey Munro in the Sydney Morning Herald: Preserving Sydney's beaches against rising sea levels could cost more than $700 million over the next 50 years and would require the government to reverse its long-standing position regarding offshore sandmining, according to a study on climate change-induced beach erosion. The report was commissioned by the Sydney Coastal Councils Group to investigate whether beach nourishment could stop Sydney's beaches from being washed away by the projected sea level rise of 10 centimetres a decade.But the report also identifies a business case for beach nourishment, saying the economic benefits would outweigh the costs, compared with doing nothing. “At some point, which will come sooner for some beaches than others, Sydney beach sands will be depleted, and [offshore] sands in the shelf sand bodies could be used to nourish these beaches,” said Professor Bruce Thom, the President of the Australian Coastal Society and an adviser to the coastal councils group.
Beach nourishment involves a floating dredge drawing up sand from deeper waters and depositing it in the shallower ''surf zone''. The action of the waves then pushes it onto the beach. ''It's a practice that has been used on the Gold Coast for many years,'' Professor Thom said. ''Different techniques, but the basic principle is the same: using sands from a local source, putting them into the surf zone, and [allowing] the waves to push sand on to beach.''…
Coogee Beach in Sydney, shot by Bozotexino, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
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