Adelaide’s Living Beaches Strategy has been developed by the Coastal Protection Board of the South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. It is the future management strategy for all of Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches.

The Coastal Protection Board of the (then) Department for Environment and Heritage commissioned this major coastal processes study for the entire metropolitan coastline of Adelaide – from Kingston Park in the south, to Outer Harbour in the north. The study incorporated numerical modelling to provide an insight into past, existing and future scenarios of littoral processes. The study provided the essential technical foundation for the development of innovative foreshore management strategies.

IMAGE: HENLEY BEACH SA BY GREG-SCALES

Adelaide’s Living Beaches Strategy aims to successfully manage erosion threats to metropolitan coastal assets by replenishing beaches and only using foreshore structures in critical locations to impede the natural northerly drift of littoral sand.
Following this Coastal Processes Study of Adelaide Beaches, further specialist advice regarding the implementation of the strategy was provided to incorporate three key initiatives:

• recycling sand by more efficient sand transfer systems;
• incorporation of sand bypassing operations at harbours into the management process; and
• the placement of coarse sand from external sources into the active beach system.

The coastal teams unique depth and breadth of technical skills – of not only being able to undertake state-of-the-art numerical model “studies” but to also translate the findings of such investigations into practical solutions – makes the experience of our team so valuable to Coastal Management Studies.

This Coastal Processes Study of Adelaide Beaches was completed by Coastal Engineering Solutions, now a part of Water Technology.