California/Nevada Bring Back Water Bottles To Squaw

[Eleeski]

SnoCountry reported that Squaw and Alpine are not going to sell water in bottles anymore. Environmental reasons are cited.

Several things about this really bother me. First, the plastic in bottles is a high value plastic and it does pay off to recycle. The infrastructure to recycle already exists at Squaw - every trash can in the lodges has a recycle option.

I wonder about the refillable alternative shown in the report. Keeping bladders clean is a challenge. My son's Camelback gets gross. The effort and resources like wash water and vodka (to sterilize) might be harder on the environment than a recycled bottle. Single use of a fancy bottle almost certainly is.

My most critical objection to this policy is that the water at Squaw is bad. As in makes me sick. They have tested bad several times in the past. The water in our house can be so chemical that it makes your mouth chalky and gives a mild case of diaharea. I drink San Diego water from the tap (tastes bad but I tolerate it) but I only drink bottled water at Squaw. I trust the quality control of a major water bottle supplier more than the filter on a hard to access dispenser.

Terrible idea, bring back water bottles!

Eric

 

[Jilly]

Having worked for a major food company that owns may water sources that bottle it...yes the QC is better. Tremblant did the opposite and took away the water fountain. After a month they had to put it back! I was not paying $3/bottle for Dansai, which is filtered tap water (a Coca-cola brand too). I just bring a folding cup with me. Or better yet, we have lunch at the Fairmont Tremblant cafe...water's free and might have lemon in it.

 

[cantunamunch]

I was not paying $3/bottle for Dansai, which is filtered tap water (a Coca-cola brand too). .

With a nice topping of magnesium sulfate

 

[cantunamunch]

instead of pushing for refillable bottles, why not ask squaw to improve their water?

 

[Ecimmortal]

Odd to see people pushing for single use plastic bottles.

 

[Eleeski]

Single use plastic water bottles have done more to enhance the safety of travel than almost anything else. Intestinal distress when traveling from the water (even regionally in safe countries like the US) is much less common when you drink bottled water. Bottled water would have prevented the Mexican dysentery I got decades ago - no problem last visit drinking bottles of water.

They deliver a reliable quality product at a reasonable cost and fit well in a recycling infrastructure. Why water bottles have been singled out by the environmental movement is curious to me. The environmental costs of diseases is far higher than recycling some valuable bottles.

Squaw used to have the best tap water. Something changed drastically - a new well? I'll brush my teeth in the water but it's third world drinking water. Specifically for Squaw, bottled water is needed. Placating environmentalists is not.

Eric

 

[pais alto]

Use this:

Put it in here:

Clean it with this:

Avoid this:

As far as health goes, I thought we were talking about Squaw, not Mexico.

 

[Alexzn]

SnoCountry reported that Squaw and Alpine are not going to sell water in bottles anymore. Environmental reasons are cited.

Several things about this really bother me. First, the plastic in bottles is a high value plastic and it does pay off to recycle. The infrastructure to recycle already exists at Squaw - every trash can in the lodges has a recycle option.

I wonder about the refillable alternative shown in the report. Keeping bladders clean is a challenge. My son's Camelback gets gross. The effort and resources like wash water and vodka (to sterilize) might be harder on the environment than a recycled bottle. Single use of a fancy bottle almost certainly is.

My most critical objection to this policy is that the water at Squaw is bad. As in makes me sick. They have tested bad several times in the past. The water in our house can be so chemical that it makes your mouth chalky and gives a mild case of diaharea. I drink San Diego water from the tap (tastes bad but I tolerate it) but I only drink bottled water at Squaw. I trust the quality control of a major water bottle supplier more than the filter on a hard to access dispenser.

Terrible idea, bring back water bottles!

Eric

I think its a good way for Squaw to introduce an additional income stream by selling expensive "reusable" bottles that no one reuses (as most people just buy that bottle and throw it away or never return to the resort with it). People who do use reusable bottles, use Nalgene or Klean Kanteen or something that actually works as a bottle.

 

[Alexzn]

Single use plastic water bottles have done more to enhance the safety of travel than almost anything else. Intestinal distress when traveling from the water (even regionally in safe countries like the US) is much less common when you drink bottled water. Bottled water would have prevented the Mexican dysentery I got decades ago - no problem last visit drinking bottles of water.

They deliver a reliable quality product at a reasonable cost and fit well in a recycling infrastructure. Why water bottles have been singled out by the environmental movement is curious to me. The environmental costs of diseases is far higher than recycling some valuable bottles.

Squaw used to have the best tap water. Something changed drastically - a new well? I'll brush my teeth in the water but it's third world drinking water. Specifically for Squaw, bottled water is needed. Placating environmentalists is not.

Eric

Not so fast her, Eric. There is an undeniable benefit to water bottle in third world countries, the situation is very different in places that have safe and good quality tap water. generally good tap water is much better and safer than bottles water, it is tested a lot more often, and the standards are more stringent. A lot of the bottled water say "municipal water source", which means its literally bottled tap water. Tahoe Donner water is excellent, almost as good as San Francisco water. San Diego water (as far as I know) may have some reverse osmosis water component, which is extremely clean but not very tasty (because all the salts are removed). I have not noticed anything bad with water at Squaw lately, I will pay attention next time. But the reusable bottles Squaw sells is a scam.

 

[Eleeski]

@pais alto , my point exactly. Put lots of material and effort into an unsupervised cleaning process or end up with a valuable concentrated asset in recycled bottles.

At least we can get bottles of water in Mexico. And I didn't get sick from the Mexican water.

Eric

@Alexzn The water at Squaw is from a very small district. The quality is variable. I often get stomach issues from the water there. The water at Gold Coast has failed tests many times. No cholera or typhoid but still travelers trots are unpleasant.

 

[crgildart]

If I forget my plattypuss I'll bring ONE regular single use bottle of water then refill that bottle several times. In fact, at home mrs crgildart really hates the tap water we have here but I prefer the tap water to bottled here. So, I keep refilling bottles and reusing them. Yes, I know that there are better/safer refillable options.

Eleeski, have you ever been hiking and camping places without any water sources except natural ones? I'm talking about hiking where carrying your own bottled water would be pretty ridiculous. Only options are river or lake water to filter and either boil or add some bleach/purifier (which is mostly bleach). You might take a day to get used to it, but our bodies adapt pretty quickly to what's available if we allow them to.

 

[pais alto]

@pais alto , my point exactly. Put lots of material and effort into an unsupervised cleaning process or end up with a valuable concentrated asset in recycled bottles.

Heh. I think it could go without saying that you purposely, and hyperbolically, mis-read my post.

But no matter, you seem to be convinced that all plastic bottles go to a cost-saving, perhaps even profitable, recycling center. To that end, I invite you to look closely at the (non-recycling) trash cans and sides of runs and under the lifts and in the parking lot at a resort that sells single-use bottles. I work at a ski area and if I had a nickel for every plastic bottle I've seen that wasn't recycled, I wouldn't have to work at a ski area.

Your comment concerning the issue of an "unsupervised cleaning process" is too silly to address. Enjoy your archaic rancor.

 

[AmyPJ]

Snowbasin has a brilliant set up that I love. They have bottled jug water coolers with plastic washable cups. They used to have disposable paper cups but quit using those last season. It's so easy to run in and fill a cup of water to chug, I've quit carrying a Camelbak with me.

 

[JayT]

I think Squaw should run a pipe-line from Flint, Michigan.

Too soon?

 

[crgildart]

I think Squaw should run a pipe-line from Flint, Michigan.

Too soon?

You would have skied on snow made from it last season if possible right?

 

[Eleeski]

@pais alto "archaic rancor "? I'm just trying to indicate that there are very good reasons for single use plastic bottles. Plastic can be beneficial to people and the environment even if that conflicts with the PR campaign against plastic.

And do you really want to drink out of the moldy algae filled camelback from last season? I have better ways to spend my time than a marginally workable cleaning process (maybe I don't, I'm posting here).

If you were in California, each of those bottles is worth a nickel. That's why Squaw has recycling by every trash can. And when I worked for the injection molder, we bought and used lots of recycled plastic.

I may be old but I'm not archaic. And the only bitterness is left over from the cleaning solution in the camelback. (Actually, once I switched to vodka as a disinfectant the bitterness went away).

@crgildart My lake in the desert has undrinkable water. Too many nasty minerals. So we have to truck in all our drinking water. Three gallons per person per day. I understand the difficulty of a clean water supply. With giardia endemic in all California water, treatment is mandatory - not tolerance. And I have a sensitive stomach so I don't adapt well.

I agree with @Alexzn about San Francisco water tasting great. Tap water is usually good (ignore Flint - the government did). But places with well water and variable demand are suspect - like Squaw. One gubby feeling skier who doesn't buy a ticket is the margin for the recycling effort. One very sick skier who identifies the water as the cause undermines the entire bottle removal program.

Eric

 

[pais alto]

JHC, here's a tip: drain your Camelbak at the end of the day, hang it upside down with the cap off. Voilá, no mold or funk. Was that so hard? I've been doing that with my 10 year old Camrlbak, and what comes out is every bit as good as what goes in.

And an idea: If you feel too troubled with the above simple procedure and absolutely must have a one-use bottle, is it so difficult to stop at Safeway in Tahoe City or Truckee and pick up a case?

 

[cantunamunch]

I'm actually wondering if the Squaw water taste will change with all that new snowpack.

 

[Gerry Rhoades]

Single use bottled water. GGGRRRRRR Every time I see someone buy a mountain of that shit at Costco I want to scream. I go hiking in the mountains and come back with a backpack full of empty plastic bottles and f***ing Coors and Bud Light cans. The last time I read a report, I think it said something like 20% of the plastic bottles get recycled and the rest going into landfill, by the side of the road, along the trails. I routinely carry 3 liters of water when I high or mountain bike, been doing it for years. It is easy as hell as to clean the bladders. During the summer I almost always have three or four hanging, upside down, in the basement in various stages of drying.

 

[John Webb]

What "small water district" do Squaw and Alpine use ?

I've heard that Truckee's tap water is quite clean and pure. They even considered bottling it.


As for cleaning Camalbaks-I've never had a problem. I open and dry it after each ski trip.
I clean it with a bit of diluted UNSCENTED bleach. LADWP even suggests this. Don't need
the exotic foaming tablets (probably bleach) from Camalbak.