Replenishing sand at West Beach and Henley Beach South

The work will involve up to 90,000 cubic metres of sand being collected from a nearshore area just south of North Haven Marina breakwater and delivered by barge to West Beach and Henley Beach South during September.

The program will be managed by the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) to help improve the resilience of Adelaide's coastline to storms and sea-level rise, maintain beach width and protect coastal infrastructure. It will also get sand trucks and heavy machinery off our beaches so we can all enjoy a world-class coastline.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has approved a licence for the sand dredging operations to proceed following assessment of the project’s environmental management and monitoring plans and consideration of public submissions received during community consultation.

All dredging will be regulated by the EPA and managed under an approved Dredge Management Plan, which sets out how dredging and sand placement will occur and how impacts to marine life, water quality, public health and local communities will be managed.

Environmental monitoring will be undertaken throughout the operation, including water quality, seagrass and noise monitoring.

The barges will place sand directly on the seabed at West Beach and Henley Beach South, where waves will wash sand on to the beach. A cutter suction dredge and pipeline diffuser may also be used at West Beach to place sand close to the shoreline where direct placement by barge is restricted by water depth.

Beaches will remain open during operations. Beachgoers may see dredging vessels and support equipment operating in the water close to shore and there may be short term impacts on some on-water activities during sand collection and placement.

As announced in January this year, from 2027 the long-term program will include:

• A once-off mass restoration to restore West Beach with 400,000 cubic metres of sand collected from north of the Outer Harbor channel breakwater.
• An annual replenishment program to return an estimated 90,000 cubic metres of sand each year to Adelaide’s central beaches where it is needed, including West Beach, guided by ongoing beach monitoring.

This type of dredging is the most common method of beach replenishment globally, as well as in Australia.

It was a recommendation of the Adelaide Beach Management Review and supported by peer-reviewed scientific advice to government.