Muriwai

Muriwai sand dunes are eroding away due to natural causes. Auckland City Council are working together with the community and volunteers to prevent anymore loss of dunes by replanting native vegetation such as spinafex and pingao. Erosion is evident in the car park located by the cliff. A local resident says that the car park has eroded about 2 meters in the last few years and it will continue to if nothing is done. He also says that the local golf course has signs of erosion as part of it has been built on the back of the sand dune. He argues that planting 15,000 spinafex that the council has proposed is a waste of time. Reason being is that the spinafex will stablise the first few feet of the sand dune and as soon as a swell comes it will erode the bottom and that stabilization that has occurred over time will be lost. He believes that a wall breaker that is not just a brick wall but a wall similar to a spiky ball would do the trick because it will break the swell and the wall would not collapse. He has seen these in Europe around Spain he says.

Personally, i would agree with him about the re-plantation of spinafex, all it does it stablise the top of the dune and not the bottom. Planting is a short term fix but i do not believe in building a wall either because it will damage the natural look of the coastline.