Property owner Jolanda Court on top of the newly piled up sand at Matapōuri Beach. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Property owner Jolanda Court on top of the newly piled up sand at Matapōuri Beach. Photo / Michael Cunningham
To the untrained eye, sand recovery work at Matapōuri looks like ratepayer money washing away with the tide.
Those behind it, though, say success was always out of sight beneath the waves that appear to be washing the beach away.
Starting in May, Whangārei District Council contractors have been movingabout 15,000cu m of sand from the Matapōuri Beach estuary back to the coast with the intent to protect public and private property against coastal erosion.
It's a process that has left the beach "a mess", say local property owners who have watched sand dumped on the beach washed away.
"The engineers have wrecked one of the most popular beaches in the country. It is heartbreaking to see such a waste of money. This so-called rejuvenation of the beach is a joke," said Shelley Attwood, a Matapōuri ratepayer of more than 30 years.
According to Attwood, the surf at the beach has changed, and she had recently noticed some strong rips. At the nearby estuary, a little beach is gone and she has concerns about the impact on a dotterel nesting area.
Contractors have been moving approximately 15,000m3 of sand. Photo / Michael Cunningham
"The council did the same thing 10 years ago. At least then there were public meetings about this. Now they are doing it during winter when many people are absent.
"But Mother Nature will take that mountain of sand that they have dumped away again."
The problem, she said, was made worse with sand swept away by a recent big storm and accompanying king tides.
Fellow ratepayer Jolanda Court, whose family have owned a waterfront bach for well over 50 years, described the sand wall as "not very effective".
Matapōuri property owner Jolanda Court said within days sand below the stairs had flushed away making it harder and harder to use. Photo / Michael Cunningham
She pointed to newly installed stairs leading from homes down to the beach.
"Within the span of a weekend, the waves flushed away the sand below the bottom stair. It is already getting hard to climb that first step from the beach."
It has emerged that what locals saw as evidence of failure was actually claimed by those behind the project as evidence of success.
Sand taken from the estuary and placed on the beach was intended to be swept offshore and distributed by waves and currents on the visible beach but also offshore, creating a gently sloping seabed.
Doing so reduced the impact of waves rolling into shore - what the council's project engineer Jason Nair called a "soft engineering solution" that would have less impact on the natural environment.
In the 12 months following, the beach width was expected to decrease and could be seen as a failed outcome because it looked as if the sand had been washed away. However, this was intentional.
"The replenishment works may occur no more than every five years, to protect against ongoing natural processes such as erosion. Previous attempts have proven successful, and this is evident in the northern half of the beach which has sustained its profile."
WDC had been granted a 20-year resource consent for the beach replenishment works in October 2019. Of the 30 submissions received, 17 opposed the consent, saying the costs for the project were too high, the works were only a short-term fix and that nature should be left on its own.
Signs of erosion along beachfront properties. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Supporters believed the work was necessary to maintain and protect the beach, dune and spit and would offer improved beach access via new walkways and stairways.
Issues at Matapōuri started when the area was developed. Before that, storms and floods would flush sand out of the estuary, and it would settle along the shore of the bay.
But bridges built across Te Wairoa and Parangarau streams narrowed the channels and slowed the streams, leading to less sand being flushed back into the bay.
The marker indicates how much sand has eroded. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Then sand started clogging up the estuary and the usable area of beach at high tide started to lessen.
WDC have been granted their resource consent for 20 years. Image / WDC
The council confirmed it would restore sand flushed away from beneath the new stairs. A spokeswoman for the Department of Conversation said there were no concerns for the dotterels at the beach.
