Coast & Estuaries
Page 194
Coast & Estuaries
The Coastal and Marine environment is a significant feature of the Council area.
The coastal region can be roughly divided into two areas, the Port Adelaide
River and adjacent coastline (Barker Inlet and Port Adelaide River Estuary), and
the sandy beach coastline. Figure 57 (p 231) shows a map of the features of the
City’s coastline.
This section is therefore divided into two parts -
(1)
Barker Inlet & Port Adelaide River
(2)
St Vincent Gulf and the beaches
(1)
Barker Inlet and the Port Adelaide River
Introduction
The Barker Inlet and Port Adelaide River Estuary is the largest tidal inlet in Gulf
St Vincent, and its protected waters provide Adelaide and South Australia with
major international port facilities. It is highly significant to the State in ecological,
cultural and economic terms. The Barker Inlet is comprised of the coastal
estuary of the Port Adelaide River, and contains two islands (Torrens Island and
Garden Island). The Port waterways consist of the Port Adelaide River, North
Arm, North Arm Creek, Angas Inlet and Barker Inlet.
Estuaries such as the Port Adelaide River and Barker Inlet are semi-enclosed
bodies of water, where the sea begins to mix with urban land freshwater runoff,
with changing salinity gradients due to tidal exchanges. Estuaries are a
particularly sensitive and biologically rich part of marine and coastal
environments. Due to this process tidal areas also act as filters and channels for
the pollutants and nutrients that run off the land and into the marine
environment.
The Barker Inlet and St Kilda wetlands have been identified as Wetlands of
National Importance (Australian Nature Conservation Agency 1996) and
encompass the coastal waters, fringing mangroves, tidal creeks and adjoining
wetlands and salt fields from St Kilda to Outer Harbor.
The area is rich in history as a working port, and is also a popular recreation
location. Over the years the area has been host to a number of large industries
including coal handling facilities, three electricity generating plants (Torrens
Island, Osborne, and Pelican Point), cement works, salt harvesting, a sugar
refinery, boat building facilities, major fuel storage depots, major sewage
treatment plants (Bolivar and Port Adelaide), chemical plants and rubbish
dumps.
Recent projects in the area include new residential and commercial
development in the inner port area, the Port Adelaide River Expressway
(including construction of a new vehicle and rail bridge known as the Diver
