Superb Idea: A Brita for the Whole Office

Here's a partial accounting of the shortcomings of the traditional office five-gallon-water-jug-and-cooler system: 1) it's expensive 2) water is heavy, and moving water around in trucks wastes energy 3) making a bunch of five-gallon jugs out of plastic is wasteful 4) it furthers the perception that municipal water sources are less safe.Here's a solution: the bottleless water cooler from a company called Quench. They'll rent you a cooler that plugs straight into your local tap water source (after all, we already have free water coming out of our walls). They'll hook it up for you. And with six different layers of filters (and a UV purification system to keep bacteria in check) anything you drink out of a Quench cooler is likely to be cleaner than most bottled water anyway.For those bottom-line-oriented managers, here's the brass tacks: there's a one-time $100 installation fee and a $40 to $50 monthly rental fee for the cooler-this'll definitely be the cheapest way of safely hydrating your peons.Here's a picture: