Local camp company says it offered free water trial — town never followed up

SO What · Osoyoos water

An Osoyoos company that outfits remote work camps says it offered the town a no-cost trial of its water-treatment system more than a year ago — and got no serious uptake.

Matrix Camps & Logistics, headquartered on 51st Street in Osoyoos, posted the account on Facebook after a mayoral candidate named the firm in a campaign discussion about the town’s long-running drinking-water problems. Matrix builds and runs workforce camps for mining, fire, and oilfield projects across Canada, and treats water as part of that work. The company said it just wanted to help because this is their town too.

In the post, the company said it approached the town over a year ago about trying one of the treatment systems it already designs and deploys at its camps. The offer, as Matrix described it: supply the system, cover installation, provide ongoing maintenance, and name the Town of Osoyoos on the company’s insurance policy — “All of this AT NO COST to the town of Osoyoos” — just to see how the gear handled the town’s known water issues.

Matrix said it has used the system in other B.C. towns and municipalities, offered references, and got no follow-up. The company added that it did not yet have full source-water details or lab analysis, but was still willing to help.

“Unfortunately we were not taken up on our offer and were blatantly told by the town and former CAO they were too busy to engage with us to even explore this option,” the post said.

That line is Matrix’s account. SO What has not independently verified with the town what their response was.

The company said the conversation revived this election cycle. It has been contacted to discuss the treatment option, it wrote, and is now getting more water analytics and flow-rate data to judge whether the system could fit.

“We are excited to explore further how we can support the upcoming planning to create safe drinking water in our town,” the post said.

Osoyoos has spent years on studies, metering, and source options while residents still deal with brown sediment and a plant that is not yet built. Whether a camp-style package system belongs in that mix is still an open technical question — Interior Health approvals, long-term operating cost, and how any trial would sit beside the town’s preferred design all matter. Matrix’s post does not settle those points. It does put a concrete local claim on the public record: a hometown logistics firm saying it raised its hand, priced the trial at zero, offered references, and was waved off as too busy — until the election put water back at the centre of the ballot.

—Based on a public Facebook post by Matrix Camps & Logistics. SO What has not independently verified with the town their response.