Virginian Golf Club official says the facility is not 'stealing' water from Sinking Creek and points to drought conditions

The manager of The Virginian Golf Club says it's not to blame for downstream residents' lack of water.

"It's a drought, and they're not the only ones that are experiencing a drought," said Kenny Kerr, the golf club's general manager. "We're not stealing their water. There's nothing there to steal."

But residents along Sinking Creek, who were deeded rights to the spring in 1992, say the loss of their creek and their water supply began with the construction of the golf course -- and it's been getting worse ever since.

"We used to stand right at the house with two logs with boards hammered into them and float all the way to the store [a mile and a half away] and back just pushing with sticks," said Daniel Dutton, who added he's lived on the creek since he was a child.

He said he's never seen the water low enough to walk across without getting your feet wet, like it is now.

"There used to be rainbow trout in there," Dutton said. "They went and dynamited up there, and we haven't had water since."

David Bridgeman, president of the Sinking Creek Pipeline Association, said the pipeline has been damaged twice this summer, resulting in a loss of water and water pressure.

He said he hasn't had water since July 20, and that about 20 people depend on the pipeline to provide water for their animals.

"The price of grain and trying to keep the animals going is real pressure," he said, "so when you've got to pay for water, it can get really expensive, if you're trying to feed 20 or 30 animals."

Bridgeman said he too used to float down the stream when he was young -- but now it's less than ankle-deep, and the gravel stream bottom is covered in silt.

In 1991, as the golf course development was beginning, the Bristol Tennessee Water Department -- which owned the spring -- estimated the stream's flow rate at 2.3 million gallons a day. Bridgeman said the flow was recently measured at 300,000 gallons a day.

Golf course officials told the Herald Courier in 1991 that water use by The Virginian would not have a negative effect on the spring.

Even with a Herald Courier reporter and photographer, Bridgeman was denied access Wednesday to the spring house -- although access by road across golf club property is specifically granted in the deed to the water source.

He's taking up a collection among neighbors to pay a lawyer to make the golf club fix the spring after the pipeline was damaged twice, dropping the water level and eliminating the water pressure.

"It's hard standing up to these billionaires," Bridgeman said.

Kerr said the golf club has drilled three wells within the last year to "keep the golf course alive" but they have nothing to do with the neighbors' dwindling water source.

He said a water line was broken during construction, but it was immediately repaired, and that in the past, golf club employees have been sent to help the neighbors with their water woes.

Larry Fleenor, who spoke about the issue at Tuesday's regular meeting of the Washington County Board of Supervisors, isn't convinced The Virginian is a good neighbor.

"If there's no water now and there was before the wells, I guess that's the only thing I can come up with," Fleenor said.

More than 15 years ago, the golf club shut off the pipeline, and the Bristol Tennessee Water Department repaired it. The water department deeded the spring to the Pipeline Association in 1992.

Now residents use county water for their homes, but still rely on the pipeline for their animals.

Dutton said he thinks the golf club has tapped into the pipeline that belongs to residents -- but he can't prove it.

"They killed everything in the creek right there," said Bobby Lilly, another neighbor. "Isn't there a law against that?"

Bridgeman said he's afraid the golf club will run the pipeline dry and somehow use the lack of water to void the community's water rights.

A 1992 agreement states residents' rights to the spring "shall continue for as long as the Pipeline Association exists and uses the pipeline to draw water from the spring to serve its members."

Fleenor said he doesn't understand why, with pleas for help to more than a dozen state and federal agencies, the community is still watching its creek run dry.

"Let's put my grass next to theirs and see which is greener. It's not too hard to see where the water's at," he said.

"I just don't understand how they could completely destroy a stream that size and nobody has any responsibility."