A thousand or so single-use water bottles will be kept out of the local waste stream thanks to an initiative by the Osoyoos Golf Club and the financial support of the town of Osoyoos.
OGC is hosting the Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur and Senior Championships August 18-20. It expects as many as 156 competitors to be walking the fairways and greens for four days in the heat of summer.

Temperatures in the 30s will require the players to consume lots of liquid, which would normally mean lots of water consumed and plastic bottles discarded.
But it occurred to OGC general manager Doug Robb recently that refillable, insulated water cylinders would be a preferable alternative to the estimated 1,000 or more disposable bottles that would have ended up in the waste system over three days of competition and one day of practice.

The town had been looking for a way to support the championship and Robb approached council recently with the re-usable bottle idea.

At a meeting Monday, the mayor and council approved $2,000 from the economic development budget to cover the cost of about 200 insulated bottles complete with Osoyoos and Golf Canada logos.
“The town has been very supportive of the event right from the beginning,” said Robb in an interview. “It’s been very gratifying.”
He explained that there are several cold-water fountains on the golf course already and that several temporary filling stations will be set up at the scoring and pace-of-play tents during the competition.

And not only will the competitors be well watered, they’ll have a cool memento of the event and the town of Osoyoos to take home with them.