$123,000 to put sand on beach ‘shocking’
First it was battered by ratepayer indignation, then it was hammered by stormy seas.
A section of southern Paraparaumu Beach has been in the wars lately.
Last week Kapiti Coast District Council was accused of washing ratepayer cash out to sea after trucking in sand to shore up the section of beach at the end of Marine Parade.
Over the past two years, it spent more than $123,000 stacking 7000 cubic metres of sand on the to protect a sandbank from the council’s own stormprevention measures.
Now the latest delivery in June appears to have all washed away again.
The latest of eight deliveries came at a cost of about $23,622.
The sandbank is at the southern end of a rock embankment along Marine Parade, which protects homes and sand dunes from severe storms. But the embankment causes wave scouring, which damages the beach.
Infrastructure services group manager Sean Mallon said: ‘‘As part of the council’s quality control process, every time we carry out sand replenishment, we assure that the contractors supply the appropriate type of sand.
‘‘However, due to environmental effects beyond our con- trol, a percentage of sand getting washed away to sea is unavoidable.’’
Sand replenishment was needed until the council came up with a permanent solution, with $255,000 in the budget for the next financial year.
‘‘We are planning to present these options to the residents affected by this project at a community meeting in August to agree on a long-term solution.’’
The sandbank backs on to homes on Wharemauku Rd.
Paraparaumu Beach resident and former community board member Dale Evans said the ongoing work – which had involved enough sand to fill about 180 shipping containers – was ‘‘absolutely shocking. It is a complete waste of ratepayers’ money; shifting sand only to have it go back out to sea’’.
The council should have built permanent solutions such as groynes at the north and south ends of Paraparaumu’s beach, he said.
Damage after the weekend saw waves erode several metres of the foreshore, leaving a sewer main exposed, Mallon said.
Contractors were working at the site.