Around the Water Cooler

One evening last week I was watching an episode of 60 Minutes where they were examining the information several scientists have collected about the melting of the icecaps in Antartica.  During the discussion, they mentioned that the resulting melt was providing a crucial source of drinking water for people in India, China and several other large countries.   It started me thinking about the water that we drink everyday – where it comes from, how it gets to us, and how can we make the best decisions about our responsibility to the source of our water supply. We spend 8 hours a day, 5 days per week here at DLT.  During that time, many of us make use of the water coolers that are located in the two DLT kitchens.  Sometimes there’s even a line while everyone fills up their various containers.  It’s a great thing – and I mean really great!  And not just from a social perspective. When DLT relocated to this office space in May of 2005, the counter on the water cooler in the main kitchen was set at 0 gallons used.  We did extensive research to figure out the best system, with the best filtration, the most reliable functionality, the most environmentally friendly and the one with the capacity to serve the approximately 150 employees who were here then.  We really wanted to get away from the huge plastic jugs that had to be frequently hauled to the container, hoisted three feet into the air and dumped very carefully into the receptacle.  Sometimes chaos ensued and several people got drenched.  Very funny if you’re not heading into a business meeting with someone important, but not so hilarious if you are!  We wanted to find a solution that would contribute to the health of DLT employees, but also to the planet. Here we are over five years later and that counter on the water cooler says just over 9,900 gallons of water have been filtered through it.  That’s almost 10,000 gallons of water everyone!  It’s  9,900 gallons of water that didn’t come in plastic bottles, that didn’t get shipped miles by truck, that didn’t use manufacturing resources to produce. I count this as a huge success and commend everyone here at DLT who contributed because, let’s face it, it takes a little more time and effort to bring your own container and bypass those fancy plastic bottles of exotic water shipped from Fiji.   Well done and keep using those beautiful re-usable stainless steel water bottles that DLT gave as holiday gifts last year.  It’ll keep one more plastic cup out of the recycle bin.  (I know you’re not putting those plastic cups in the trash!) Submitted by Guest Writer:        Amy Flynn Styers Chair of the DLT Go Green Committee