2017-08-08 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                  8 AUGUST 2017


REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE COMMITTEE


5                        NOOSA DOG BEACH EROSION
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                           Project Officer, Daniel Wishaw
                                 Infrastructure Services Department

Index                            ECM\Subject\Environmental Management\ Erosion

Attachments                      1.   Noosa Dog Beach Erosion – aerial timeline


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Project Officer to the Services & Organisation Committee
meeting dated 8 August 2017 providing an update on erosion at Noosa Dog Beach.


REPORT
The purpose of this report is to inform Council about coastal erosion occurring at Noosa Dog
Beach and outline planned actions moving forward.

1.                       Background

Coastal erosion has been a problem at the Noosa Heads Dog Beach area in the past, with the
amalgamated Sunshine Coast Council constructing both a geotextile sand container groyne and
submerged training wall in 2012 intended to redirect water flows away from the beach and
reduce erosion. In conjunction with this project, approximately 30,000m3 of sand was dredged
from the western end of Dog Beach and placed along the beach as beach nourishment and to
form a sand bar to close the eastern channel of the Noosa River that ran adjacent to the Dog
Beach.

Between 2012 and 2016 the sand bar was stable however in the past twelve months the western
channel, which was previously dominant, has reduced in size and this flow has been taken up by
the eastern channel resulting in the sand bar eroding away and the eastern channel returned,
running adjacent to the Dog Beach. At the same time the river mouth entrance has changed
orientation from north-east to almost north, which aligns it directly into the Dog beach area, this
can be seen in the aerial photographs provided at Attachment 1. This allows the river to directly
attach the shoreline here. Additional to this change, the Dog Beach was substantially damaged
during ex TC Debbie.

These changes in the river mouth have seen the shoreline recede 11m in the last year, 80% of
this occurring in the last few months. As a result, undermining of the trees and pathways along
this beach has been observed, as shown Figure 1 below.

Several complaints have been received from locals and visitors, voicing their unhappiness with
the current state of the beach. Safety concerns have also been raised about the falling trees and
vertical sand scarps.


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