Woorim shoreline erosion management plan
In 2007 council commissioned a report into the ongoing erosion of the Woorim Beach shoreline. The report titled the Woorim Shoreline Erosion Management Plan (SEMP) presented a range of activities for managing erosion at Woorim.
A significant conclusion of the SEMP is that long-term erosion of sand is currently occurring at a rate of about 35,000 cubic metres every year. Without replenishment of the sand, ongoing erosion will continue to affect the Woorim foreshore.
The SEMP investigated a range of options to address the erosion risk, including beach nourishment (pumping of sand onto the beach) and seawalls. After consideration of all options, the primary recommended strategy was for regular, ongoing beach nourishment.
This option was favoured over ‘hard’ structures such as seawalls as it improves beach amenity, stability of dunes for turtle nesting, and directly addresses the ongoing, persistent erosion of sand with the least amount of environmental and visual impact.
Periodic beach nourishment has been occurring at Woorim since the late 1980s, with about 620,000 cubic metres of sand placed between 1988 and 2007. Since 2007, a further 450,000 cubic metres of sand has been placed at Woorim with the nourishment material sourced from offshore sand reserves.
An independent review of the SEMP, including the effectiveness of the beach nourishment works, was completed in 2011 and concluded that the nourishment works have contributed to maintaining the beach profile, are providing improved protection from storm events and should be continued.