Winda Woppa Sand Transfer System lies useless, but operational, as trucks remain cheapest option Myall Coast Myall Coast - popup ad Myall Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - June 14, 2023 Sand Transfer System pipes lie half-buried and corroded. ‘MAINTENANCE’ appears to be open to interpretation, as it has been used to officially describe the status of the Sand Transfer System (STS) sitting uselessly upon the extreme end of Winda Woppa Point. Recent MidCoast Council Community Conversations at Hawks Nest Community Hall saw many residents querying the status of the STS. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au MCC’s Director of Engineering Services, Robert Scott, merely replied, “The STS is in maintenance,” and reiterated Council’s view that trucking sand from the dredged stockpile on the Point is the most cost-effective way to renourish the infamous Jimmys Beach Erosion Zone. “The STS, which cost $4.2 million, has only been used twice since it was first installed several years ago,” Richard Streamer of the Winda Woppa Preservation Association reminded NOTA. “The recent truck campaign, considered cheaper than activating the STS, didn’t even come close to the ten-metre buffer that original replenishment plans indicated.” On 9 June, News Of The Area investigated Winda Woppa Point firsthand, to ascertain the current physical state of the STS. Security is non-existent, the gate was found wide open with no lock visible, and one side of the fence almost totally inundated by the adjacent shifting stockpile sands. Vegetation has overgrown the facility’s access road, and currently obscured access to the main outdoor utility box. Several pipeline components sit half-buried in the sand, or among metre-tall weeds, their metallic connectors corroding visibly. The recently cited estimate of it taking roughly two weeks to properly re-equip and power the STS seems somewhat optimistic. “The STS does still work, once all necessary ancillary equipment is brought in,” Mr Streamer confirmed, rightly indicating that most of the visible dilapidation has not affected the actual operational capacity of the System. The Winda Woppa STS apparently just needs some actual maintenance. The stockpile itself is the ultimate irony, perched precariously just a metre from the low-tide mark, its river-side scree eaten by the ebb and flow of the estuary, no doubt flushing sand back into the Natural Channel whence it was painstakingly dredged. By Thomas O’KEEFE Wide open – the STS gates sit ajar and forgotten out at Winda Woppa Point. Beach bushes have overgrown the main accessway, blocking the utility box, but could easily be removed with a little maintenance. Metre-high weeds have claimed the STS pipes not covered by sand. Shifting sands have rendered the barbed-wire fence as barely an inconvenience. The stockpile sits perilously close to the water’s edge, scree shows it has been eaten away by higher tides, wind and rain.
