Surf cameras bring boost to beach safety
There was good news for beach safety and board riders at Caloundra City Council’s general meeting today, with Council endorsing the installation of three new surveillance cameras on local beaches.
Caloundra City Mayor Don Aldous said a three-year agreement with Coastalwatch will provide a valuable resource for the City’s lifeguard service and deliver data on coastal conditions that will benefit Council’s management of beaches and foreshores.
The agreement will see Coastalwatch install cameras at the lifeguard towers at Kawana and Currimundi and relocate their camera at Kings Beach to a better vantage point. There is also a camera at Bulcock Beach.
The Coastalwatch website links viewers to live coastal images via nearly 100 national and overseas web cameras and provides a range of current information about coastal conditions and news on coastal issues and events. It’s a popular site for surfers wanting to check conditions at local beaches.
“Coastalwatch is offering to stream vision to the Caloundra City Lifeguard Service via the cameras located in Caloundra City,’’ Cr Aldous said.
“Display monitors will be installed at the Kings Beach Lifeguard building at no cost to Council.
Our lifeguard service supports this proposal and will certainly benefit from the ability to monitor and control the cameras to increase surveillance over the beaches.”
“This agreement is good news for beachgoers as it not only boosts safety in the surf, it will let them check the conditions via their home computers.
Cr Aldous said the cameras will also provide excellent data for the monitoring of erosion on the beaches and at Currimundi Lake.
As part of the three-year agreement, the Caloundra Lifeguard Service will provide daily surf reports to Coastalwatch for use on their website.
Council today also agreed to investigate opportunities for the installation of cameras at Wurtulla and Dicky beaches and other potential sites across the City’s coastline.
Media enquiries: David Cameron, Senior Media Officer, ph 5420 8996.
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