Conservationists have concerns about the renovation of a private golf club in Lexington and Rockbridge County, and how it could impact the health of local streams that provide drinking water and recreation. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The 124-year-old Lexington Golf & Country Club, which straddles the city-county line, partnered with Washington & Lee University in recent years to rebrand as Tribrook Club, with plans to build new facilities and renovate the grounds. It's slated to reopen next year.
With the renovation comes increased irrigation needs – and this is where the project has concerned local residents. About 65 to 70 acres of the course are currently irrigated. The club plans to install new irrigation on all 110 acres of the course.
They applied for a permit with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to withdraw surface water from Woods Creek, which runs through the golf course, a man-made irrigation lake, and then continues out to the Maury River.
Now, the golf course was already using water from the creek for irrigation, but DEQ documents say this has averaged out to about 17 million gallons of water per year. Under the new permit, they would be authorized to use more than two and a half times that amount for the next two years, as newly planted grass gets established, and then will reduce the maximum draw to 30 million gallons a year after that.
PETER DANAHER: Pretty much the entire course is being regraded and regrassed …
Peter Danaher is the golf course superintendent.
DANAHER: … moving into the modern era of grassing, stuff that's better for the environment, easier to maintain, a lot more sustainable, and really changing the look and the feel of the golf course.
Irina Calos, communications manager for DEQ, told WMRA via email that the course's existing water intake was grandfathered in, since it was in place before 1989. But they had to apply for this permit to construct a new water intake. DEQ staff wrote in the permitting documents that "a loss of state waters shall occur. However, the impacts have been avoided and minimized to the greatest extent practicable."
Some local residents are not convinced. The DEQ held a public hearing at Rockbridge County High School at the end of April. Jamie Goodin, the executive director of Rockbridge Conservation, said about 25 people spoke. Most of the comments centered on –
JAMIE GOODIN: The quantity of water.
Danaher acknowledged the annual withdrawal amounts are higher than the course has been using – but said the daily limit of 375,000 gallons a day is new.
Another point of concern is that some of the DEQ's analysis relied on data from nearby Kerrs Creek, not the stream in question. Kerrs Creek has a U.S. Geological Survey water gauge on it – whereas Woods Creek uses one that is downstream of the golf course.
GOODIN: Folks were saying how the hydrological conditions of Woods Creek are very different from Kerrs Creek, so that data may not be particularly germane to Woods Creek.
The Maury provides drinking water for Lexington and part of the county, and is a popular waterway for recreation. The DEQ currently lists tributary Woods Creek as an impaired stream due to E. coli contamination and struggling benthic macroinvertebrate populations. There have also been concerns about the Maury's water quality in recent years being impacted by the Boy Scouts of America's manmade Lake Merriweather.
GOODIN: We want to make sure that the increased annual withdrawals are well thought out and justified, especially given pending drought and climate stress scenarios.
According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Rockbridge County has experienced increasingly frequent and severe drought in the last five years compared to the 20 years prior. Extreme droughts have periodically plagued the county since 1895, when the agency's available data begins. The county is currently experiencing a level two severe drought out of four drought levels, and the agency forecasts dry conditions will persist in much of the mid-Atlantic and southern Appalachian region over the next three months.
Calos, with the DEQ, noted that under the permit, "all minimum instream flow requirements must be met in order to withdraw water."
Local residents are also concerned about the water quality of wells on-site, which are used for irrigation and other purposes. Danaher, the golf course superintendent, addressed this.
DANAHER: We had all the waterways tested. It was a request of the county. … We found that one of our wells on-property … which was strictly used for washing carts, was contaminated with PFAS chemicals. And then another well that was out on the golf course and was used to refill … or, recharge the pond, I should say, was contaminated with lead.
He said the well with PFAS has been decommissioned, and the one with lead is being remediated.
I asked if they could purchase irrigation water from the local municipal utility.
DANAHER: Where we're located, in proximity to Lexington, there's not really the infrastructure to be able carry the amount of water we would need onto the golf course.
He also noted they don't need treated, potable water for irrigation. James Melvin, a representative of the golf club's board of managers, said they're working with environmental consultants on the project.
JAMES MELVIN: We want to be good stewards of the community as a whole. So, sure, not everybody wants a golf course, but I think if the golf course is going to be here and continue to be building upon its history, which will be 125 years next year, the goal is to do it in the right way, to do it responsibly.
GOODIN: We support a solution that allows for a viable golf course while also protecting the long-term health of the watershed. … Namely, we believe that there needs to be an updated hydrological analysis.
The DEQ is accepting public comments on the permit until May 8. They plan to issue a final permit decision in September.
