Main Beach at Evans Head remains contaminated with oyster shell and broken glass from the Evans River dredging program in 2015, according to a concerned residents group.
Evans Head Residents for Sustainable Development Inc (EHRSDI) spokesman Dr Richard Gates said spoil was dumped on the Main Beach opposite the Surf Club over a period of many weeks, and much of it contained material not compatible with existing beach sand.
He said Main Beach was a ‘public disgrace and a potential health hazard because of the risk of cuts to feet from the sharp oyster shells and the glass.’
‘We have had a number of reports of injury with some parents now stopping their kids from using the beach because of the risk,’ Dr Gates said.
‘We have also heard from long term visitors. They can’t comprehend how it could have happened in the first place or that precious little had been done to remediate the problem.’
Dr Gates said at the peak of the dredging in July 2015 there was a shark attack at Evans Head.
Recently the group sampled the Main Beach opposite the surf club for shell and other materials.
For every 100 litres of sand put through a 1cm sieve, 10+ litres contained shells, broken glass and other incompatibles. The shells were examined piece by piece. More than 50 per cent was oyster shell and oyster shell fragments.
Comparable ‘control’ sand from adjacent Airforce Beach contained only a small number of shell fragments from a 100 litre sample, he said.
‘The Review of Environmental Factors (REF) for the dredging program for NSW Crown Lands made it very clear that the spoil for the Main Beach was to be “compatible” with the existing beach sand,’ Dr Gates said.
‘The evidence shows this was not so. We have a comprehensive photographic and video record of contaminated dredge spoil being dumped on the beach day after day.
‘Despite the REF Sediment Investigation Report of the Evans River, material “unsuitable for placement on main beach” was taken from a large “no-go” zone in the river which begs the question who was overseeing the project and how was this allowed to happen so comprehensively?
‘EHRSDI has had correspondence with the EPA but this has come to nothing, a not unexpected experience. And so the problem continues with Richmond Valley Council and Crown Lands responding feebly to the public outcry about the state of the beach when you would expect it to be in their interests and the interests of the public to pursue the problem robustly.”
‘Make no mistake, the Main Beach problem at Evans Head is a metaphor for what’s happening at all levels of government,’ he said.
‘There’s lots of buck passing and failure to act on the evidence and scientific REF.
‘Overall there is a lack of leadership. And we are witnessing yet another failure of the self-regulation model so popular with current governments. It is as if no-one is listening to the public anymore”.
EHRSDI notes that information provided to the public about the dredging program was not the same as the information in the REF. How so? Was the public misled or was it sheer incompetence that led to this discrepancy?
‘The Main Beach at Evans Head needs to be fixed urgently and permanently before the important summer season and before further damage it done to Evans Head’s reputation as a premium family holiday spot. It is time for those responsible for this fiasco to be held accountable for their actions. And none of the cost should come out of the public purse,’ Dr Gates said.
