Squaw Valley Will Outlaw Bottled Water Sales To Promote Water Refill Stations

According to The Los Angeles Times, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows believe that their mountain guests should be drinking mountain-fresh water from the tap while on the slopes, so they’re ditching bottled water and installing on-mountain water refill stations. The Lake Tahoe-area sister resorts claim that they are the first in the U.S. ski world to get rid of single-use plastic bottles that cause environmental issues throughout the world every year.

Drink Mountain Tap, the name of the campaign, allows skiers and snowboarders to easily access 20 refill stations across both resorts. Refill stations with fresh water from nearby mountains were installed in November and December, and bottled water sales are being phased out. According to company estimates, about 28,000 plastic bottles will get thrown away in the garbage. This project will save guest money too, because they won’t be spending money on bottled water at the resort.

All of these water refill stations promote the use of reusable water bottles, but if you forget yours, you can buy one at the resort for about $3. Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows partnered with Mizu, an eco-conscious water bottle producer run by pro snowboarder Jussi Oksanen, which runs a campaign called “Protecting Where We Play.” Mizu donated five of the refill stations, which is more than enough to make a significant difference.