LeakBird

(March 2, 2009, USA Today)

Gov. Charlie Crist wants Florida’s water bottlers to start paying for the water they pump from aquifers in the state, The Miami Herald reports.

Outside the rural north Florida town of Lee, “every day, Nestle Waters of North America sucks up an estimated 500,000 gallons from Madison Blue Springs,” the paper says. You probably know it as Deer Park.

The company paid a one-time permit fee of $150. It’s one of 23 water bottlers in the state that doesn’t pay for their water, the Herald reports. Now Crist and some state lawmakers want to charge 6 cents a gallon.

That would translate to $56 million in the first year alone, money that would fund state water projects.

The bottlers are crying foul. Rob Fisher, who runs the Blue Springs plant, told the Herald that bottlers are no different that agriculture users that can use even more water.

Bottled water ”isn’t a luxury, it’s a choice,” he said. “And during times of natural disaster, it’s a necessity.”

(Original Article Here)

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