Time for another geography lesson

The municipality receives some flak from the public when sand pumping operations take place, and a lot of misinformation is spread on social media in this regard.
We have attached some information regarding the sand pumping replenishment for Durban beaches and below is a summary for those with short attention spans.

Due to the natural south to north littoral drift of sand along the KZN coast  whenever there is an obstruction in the path of the drifting sand, it accumulates on the southern side of the obstruction and the areas north of the obstruction are starved of sand replenishment until the obstruction is breached by the sand.

In the case of Durban, the northward drifting sand is blocked by the harbour entrance breakwaters and if sand is not “delivered” to the beaches north of the breakwaters, these beaches will eventually be starved of sand and erosion of beachfront infrastructure will occur. This effect can be seen in practice at Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) where Kings beach to the south of the harbour is a big wide beach where sand has piled up against the southern harbour breakwater, while to the north of Qqeberha there are no beaches and dolosse are placed on the sea foreshore to hold the damaging effects of the ocean at bay.

Sand replenishment is especially important for the club as the current clubhouse is built on the old high-water mark and the beach in front of the club was reclaimed many years ago by building rubble.

Which is why there are always rocks and stones on our beach. If we do not get a regular supply of fresh sand, the rocks and stones are exposed (damaging the boats) and the sand buffer zone between the sea and clubhouse is reduced.

The buffer zone is especially important during the cyclone season ( coming up in the next few months) when large waves can originate from the north and head directly into the Vetchs basin, threatening to flood the clubhouse.

Many of the older members will remember cyclone generated waves lapping at the old clubhouse fences in the past.

Please cooperate with the requests of the municipal employees while sand pumping operations are taking place and stay well away from the freshly pumped areas of sand as the area can be soft and of a “ quicksand” nature until most of the water drains away.

Links:

SAND PUMPING PROCESS

FACT SHEET DURBAN SAND BYPASS

SAND PUMPING BROCHURE

SAND PUMP SAAMBR 13 NOV 2018

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