Water, wells and wildlife

As a Fairview resident living approximately half a mile from The Cliffs at High Carolina and the Tiger Woods golf course, now under construction: Please hear our cries!

We, along with all residents of the Spring Mountain community, rely totally on wells and springs for our homes. Western North Carolina is in an extreme drought (see: www.ncdrought.org). We appeal to your sense of world community and respect for the seriousness of this situation. The duration of this drought is very concerning to all of us in Buncombe County. Now, the planned Tiger Woods golf course will require enormous volumes of water every day to construct and sustain, as well as the large estates to be built on this 3,000-acre development site.

Our neighborhood may already be impacted. Just three weeks after The Cliffs began excavating on our side of the mountain, a neighbor at the top of the ridge lost his spring. This same neighbor now has to haul his water up the mountain to his home. Who is next?

We are scared, not only for the loss of our well water, but also for the contamination of our wells from the chemicals that may be used on this golf course and development. We have been given no guarantee from the developer, Jim Anthony, that none will be used. We are all downhill from The Cliffs.

Additionally, we now have bear sightings on a regular basis as they continue to lose their habitat. How will The Cliffs at High Carolina remedy their situation?

In the spirit of conservation and reasoning, we plead to you to let common sense prevail. It’s not too late to stop this madness. We are, after all, stewards of the Earth. Let’s act like it.

The world has enough golf courses, and fewer and fewer nature preserves. I propose The Tiger Woods Nature Preserve. Now that’s a proud legacy we can all live with.

— Cindy Hady
Fairview

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Webmaster
Mountain Xpress Webmaster Follow me @MXWebTeam

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

4 thoughts on “Water, wells and wildlife

  1. gayle mudge

    Cindy,
    The point that you make is right on target.
    It seems that everywhere we look lately Asheville is rolling over for greed and putting a For Sale sign on our views, water and habitats.
    How do we vote NO?!
    Gayle Mudge

  2. Cynthia Justice

    In response to the thoughtful, reasoned letter Water, Wells and Wildlife, I want to quote from the recent issue of Clean Currents, Clean Water for NC’s newsletter:Duke intern, Teagan Ward says “North Carolina has become more vulnerable to drought events in recent years as a result of rapid population growth, which has led to increasing freshwather demands.” From the summary of a coming report, Boniventure Mwapule, also a Duke intern, writes “Increasing development pressures combined with extremely complex hydrogeology make it practically impossible to predict how new (or increased) withdrawals and impervious surface on mountaintops might affect current well and spring users in the Piedmont and Western NC..” This is scary stuff, folks..running out of water..

  3. Chuck Connors

    It is about time we all made the mega-developers feel very unwelcome in WNC. When they have become educated that dollars invested here are a poor bet they will go somewhere else.

    The small green, efficient developers should be welcomed. Building small communities and micro-communities within larger towns and cities can work. But the carrying capacity of the land is finite so where will the water come from?

    The water will come from educating people and giving them positive reinforcements for efficiency and conservation. We have to trap more water for ourselves and our communities in the mountains. Roof top collection/cisterns are only a beginning. There are other ways to do this also. Think small!

  4. J. Scott Hinkle

    We live on the other side of the Cliff’s mountain in Swannanoa. One of our neighbors has lost their well water and the streams are showing silt, likely from the road construction above us at the Cliffs. I agree that Asheville can become a place that will be over-developed and then residents will begin to pull up stakes and move out. Or, county leadership can begin to assist the residents being impacted by the Cliff’s development.

Leave a Reply to Chuck Connors ×

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.