Community members spoke out in a public hearing on July 8 against a revised draft permit that would let the Tribrook Club draw millions of gallons of water from Woods Creek annually.
Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) made changes to the permit and released a response to public comments in June after getting public feedback earlier this year. Community members voiced their opinions at a previous public hearing in April and a written comment period lasting through May 8. After that, the DEQ made changes.
But residents said the DEQ hasn’t done enough to address their concerns about public health and environmental damage. The department’s changes lower the yearly withdrawal limit from 45 million gallons to 40 million gallons for the first two years of the permit and from 30 million gallons to 27 million gallons for the rest of a 15-year span.
Both changes represent about a 10% reduction in how much water the Tribrook Club can take from Woods Creek each year. The daily limit of 375,000 gallons and the monthly limit of 9 million gallons remain unchanged.
“The revised permit is an improvement, but we remain concerned that it does not adequately protect Woods Creek,” said Jamie Goodin, the executive director of Rockbridge Conservation, at the public hearing July 8.
Only people who had commented at the previous hearing or written comment period were allowed to speak at last week’s hearing. The DEQ held the hearing so that commenters could respond to the department’s public response issued in June. Speakers were not allowed to present new information.
Some residents asked DEQ to revise the draft further and hold another public hearing. Community members cited concerns about the withdrawals impairing Woods Creek and the use of chemicals on the course harming neighbors.
The club is currently under renovation and is expected to open in 2027, according to its website.
The DEQ will come to a final decision on the permit in August, DEQ communications manager Irina Calos said in an email to the News-Gazette.
How It Started
The Tribrook Club dates back to 1902 and was previously known as Lexington Golf & Country Club. Jason Melvin, a member of the Tribrook board of managers, explained in comments to The News-Gazette this week that the club first started talking about the renovations in 2017.
The renovations are made possible by a partnership with Washington and Lee University. In return for funding the renovations, W&L will be able to use the course for Division III golf competitions.
Melvin said the new Tribrook Club is a “for-profit entity” with a board of managers featuring both club and university representatives. Renovations began last year.
The club doesn’t have to obtain the permit, Melvin said. The portion of Virginia’s state code that would normally require such a permit includes a grandfather clause exempting withdrawals beginning before July 1989. But the club decided to apply for the permit voluntarily.
“It’s very important for us as a club to be good stewards of the property, to be a good community partner, and to do eveything that we can to make sure that we are bettering this piece of property,” Melvin said.
The DEQ received the initial permit application in March 2025.
Withdrawing Water
Goodin said at last week’s hearing that one of Rockbridge Conservation’s concerns is that the permit would allow the golf course to take too much water from Woods Creek. He said the course previously withdrew only about 14 million gallons per year.
“The goal should be to reduce impacts over time, not to authorize substantially greater withdrawals,” he said.
Course superintendent Peter Danaher, who has only been with the club since 2023, said in comments to The News-Gazette this week that he couldn’t confirm that 14 million gallons was the correct average. He said withdrawals varied significantly in the two years leading up to the renovations — about 12 million gallons in 2023 and over 20 million in 2024. In a letter published in The News-Gazette in May, the Tribrook Club managers said they have taken steps to ensure more efficient water use going forward.
“A new irrigation system is currently being installed that allows complete control of watering practices,” the managers said in the letter. “It will make water conservation a reality.”
The area being irrigated will increase because of the renovations. Danaher said the old irrigated area was somewhere from 65 to 80 acres. Now, it will encompass 110 acres.
At the hearing, Gretchen Succo said she doesn’t think the increase is enough to justify the new withdrawal limits.
“Basically, the math just does not make sense to me,” she said.
Succo and other speakers also asked the club to reconsider using Lexington’s municipal water.
A city water transmission line runs under the golf course site. But Danaher said this week the Tribrook Club can’t access that line directly because it would be taking water from Lexington residents.
“Through Department analysis it was determined utilization of municipal water is infeasible for this project,” according to the public response from the DEQ. “Utilization of municipal water would require additional ground disturbance for needed infrastructure to refill the irrigation lake and reoccurring costs to purchase water thereafter.”
Community members said last week they don’t accept this explanation.
“As for the statement that use of municipal water is not feasible? That’s laughable,” said Deborah Woodcock at the hearing.
The DEQ response also said that if the club were to draw from municipal water, irrigating the golf course would be classified as a “nonessential” use, meaning the city could restrict its use of water during droughts.
Barbara Walsh, a hydrogeologist who consulted for the Environmental Protection Agency, said she wants to DEQ to include additional limits on how much water the club can take during periods of drought.
“We support a sustainable golf course project,” she said, “not one that continues to impair Woods Creek and degrade public resources.”
Danaher said this week the course is doing its best to preserve environmental resources. He said much of the water it uses will be drawn from an irrigation pond fed by rainwater, not Woods Creek. He said he doesn’t know how much Woods Creek water the course will actually use in a year.
“This is our limit of watering,” he said of the permit’s guidelines. “This isn’t necessarily what we’re going to do every year. This is what we’re allowed to do.”
Chemical Concerns
Joe DiNardo, a Rockbridge County resident with experience in toxicology, said at last week’s hearing that he’s worried about the human health impacts of the chemicals applied to the course.
When the club had groundwater wells on the property tested, it found significant contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in one well.
PFAS are also known as “forever chemicals” and have been linked to cancer, among other negative health impacts. The well with PFAS contamination has been decommissioned, but speakers said they think that the entire surrounding aquifer is contaminated.
“I would agree that it’s not an issue any longer for the golf course,” Di-Nardo said. “But it is an issue for anybody whose aquifers are attached to that well.”
Danaher told The News-Gazette he does not think the broader aquifer is contaminated. He said the well contaminated by PFAS was at a higher elevation than the other well, so if the aquifer was the problem, both would have shown significant PFAS concentrations.
He said it’s more likely that the issue was filtration devices within the well. But DiNardo, at the hearing, called that explanation “very unlikely.”
Several speakers also said they were concerned that a requirement for a Integrated Pest Management Plan was removed from the draft permit. But in her email to the News-Gazette, Calos said this never should have been included in the first place.
“This was a language correction through secondary coordination with the Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR),” she said. “Their department requires a Nutrient Management Plan for golf courses, not an Integrated Pest Management Plan.”
“Continued Vitality” One speaker at last week’s hearing, Rose McMillan, used her time on the mic to read an excerpt from the DEQ mission statement: “To ensure the continued vitality of these precious and valuable resources, DEQ carries out its mission to protect and improve the environment for the health, well-being and quality of life [of] all Virginians.”
McMillan said she thinks the permit as it currently stands is in violation of that mission.
“I don’t see how what you proposed as the solution is protecting the health and welfare of all Virginians,” she said. “It seems like its protecting a golf course for some people to enjoy.”
