An outraged resident has posted a video online, in which she filmed the dredging of the Patterson River, describing it as “slowly and quietly destroying our beaches.”

Throughout the two and a half minute clip, YouTube user, Chind Win, criticised the process. “There’s a big marina out there in Patterson Lakes, so it’s nature’s way of saying, ‘we don’t want this river here,’ but man keeps dredging.”

Patterson River is man made. Sand build-up occurs regularly, due to both wind and tidal movement. Dredging is done to combat the shallow depth of the river mouth, for safety and access reasons.

The dredging occurs four to six times a year, according to Richard O’Byrne, planning and strategy manager for the Bay and Maritime Division at Parks Victoria. 

It is funded by both the state government and a levy paid by residents who live on the waterways, says Donna Bauer, State member for Carrum.

Parks Victoria Ranger in Charge, Reece Taranto, highlighted the temporariness of each dredge whilst referring to an operation in February last year.

“While the dredged sand may look and smell unpleasant when it first comes out of the water, after a few days exposure to the air and sun, the sand will bleach to the normal colour and lose the odour,” Mr Taranto said.

A recent survey conducted by Melbourne Water found that out of 119 respondents, ‘Nearly a third said that dredging was not required, the majority of whom indicated they either did not own a boat, or had a small boat.’

Local residents and beach-goers from Patterson Lakes, Shannon and Chris, who preferred to remain anonymous, both acknowledged the importance of the process, but noted that the beach becomes an unpleasant place to visit when the dredging is being conducted.

“It’s clearly [done] for a reason, to keep the channel open, but it is pretty gross…it’s actually quite smelly and dirty…. and there’s all foamy stuff that comes up,” Shannon said.

“Sometimes you can’t swim along [the beach] because of it…because it gets pretty grubby, but that’s only temporary,” Chris said.

The women also commented on the large black pipes left on the beach during and in between dredges, including the recent dredge that took place on the morning of Mother’s Day.

“They actually had [a pipe] the other week right along the path. You had to step over it to walk into the beach.

“So many people walk along here for exercise and [the dredging company] will do it [on the beach] and it just goes every where and you don’t even want to go near it,” the women said.

President of Carrum Surf Life Saving Club, David Hasell, suggested that most people are used to the process.

“They’ve been doing it for 30 odd years and I think most residents know that the beach is done every November and February…. it’s only there for a week or so, if that.”