Posted on July 19, 2016
By Therese Murray, The Daily Telegraph
Mother Nature has left The Entrance “well and truly wide open” with two channels after it was battered by a combination of king tides and the East Coast Low last month.
And former Wyong Save Tuggerah Lakes councillor Lloyd Taylor, of Toukley, couldn’t be happier as he called on the State Government to find a better site for a break wall to keep the channel wide open.
“I think it’s great having two channels at The Entrance,’’ Mr Taylor said.
“One is wide enough and deep enough to take a boat through. The recent storms and massive waves have done what the community have been calling for but, unfortunately, it won’t last.
“With the channel open as it is now, the suburbs around the lakes didn’t suffer the extensive flooding they had in previous storms, so clearly keeping the channel open is part of the solution to overcoming flooding.’’
The last time The Entrance Channel was so wide was after the April super storm last year when the former Wyong Council said it would scale back its planned dredging program because the channel mouth had opened up.
The dredging program was made possible by a $2.4 million grant the council secured from the NSW Government in March 2015.
The funds were also to pay for beach nourishment and a new stone wall, known as a groyne, at The Entrance Beach.
But Mr Taylor said the Government needed to review the site for the break wall.
“The State Government committed $2.4 million to build a break wall, but it’s obvious they’re putting it in the wrong place,’’ Mr Taylor said.
“It’s not too late for the State Government to mend its ways and change the location to keep this channel open. I call on the State Government to do the right thing.’’
Mr Taylor’s fellow Save Tuggerah Lakes member and former Wyong councillor Adam Troy said the water quality was amazing and the channel wass deep enough for boats to come and go.
“It’s amazing to see what it could be like if we did have a permanent channel on the north side,’’ Mr Troy said.
“I note that there are no mud flats exposed at low tide and no flooding at high tide as suggested by those who want nothing to ever happen to the channel.
“Imagine being able to go whale watching from The Entrance. It could be an economic boom for the area,” he said.
Mr Troy said the groyne should be built on the north side. “It would keep the current opening there,’’ he said.
A Central Coast Council spokeswoman said the council had no plans for dredging any time soon.
“At the moment, the council is happy for nature to take its course and has no plans for dredging apart from the usual dredging that is done in late November,’’ the spokeswoman said.
“We also now have the equipment to dredge to The Entrance Beach if needed and will continue to monitor the situation.’’
Source: The Daily Telegraph
