Dunes work where other projects fail

It is sad to see that 347 people see fit to pressure our Council to remove the dune and vegetation at Ettalong, so that they can have their beach back.

As Cr Hale said only a few months ago, we cannot live in the past; we cannot expect to keep Ettalong township as it was.

Nor then can we expect to have our beach as it was.

We have to live in the present; many things are changing including our climate.

The Umina sandplain was originally a series of "parallel dunes" never more than 15m above sea level.

Much of it was a system of lagoons and swamps, with Blackwall Mountain standing high at 114m like an island.

Dunes protect our coast by absorbing the energy of waves generated by storms.

They are also reservoirs of sand which nature uses to replenish our beaches during times of wave erosion.

Dune vegetation traps and holds the sand blown from the beach, preventing it being blown inland and lost from our beach system forever.

All the projects put in place by previous councils to stop nature taking its course, and to keep our beaches as they were, have failed.

You only have to look at the rock wall near to Kourang Street and the rock groynes at Lance Web Reserve.

The one that does seem to have been successful is the dune system in front of the club-resort.

There is no sand across the Esplanade there.

I wonder if these people ever stop and really consider what it is they are asking.

Are they really willing to put in jeopardy the homes and perhaps even the lives of many people living on the Peninsula?

Perhaps they didn't see the devastation caused by storms in Louisiana.

Authorities were warned about the likelihood of this happening at least eight years before. Like our authorities they ignored the warnings.

We have been told to expect more frequent storms and particularly storm surges.

Land that may be vulnerable to erosion or tidal inundation within the next 50 years, should be maintained and no development permitted, unless it is considered expendable.

That is why we have SEP 71 and why informed authorities are reluctant to permit the destruction of the dune system at Ettalong.

These are all very serious matters and not to be put in jeopardy by a small group of petitioners who have obviously not considered all the implications.

M.Lund, Woy Woy Bay