Florida's drinking water shortage

[bw1]

Here's a link to a recent article about the proposal to tax water
bottling companies in Florida:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/florida-tax-bottled-water-companies.php

The guy from Nestle who makes some comments is partly right. A
punitive tax on water bottlers won't solve the crisis. It's a drop in
the bucket. However, it's a baby-step in the right direction and
should be done without delay. We've got to get very serious about the
water shortage issue before we get caught with a full-blown crisis on
our hands. Taxing all fresh water extraction is absolutely warranted
in the face of our shrinking supply. Making it punitive for anyone
exporting the water would also be a great idea. He mentions suburban
sprawl development and golf courses as the much bigger culprits.
Bingo! We've got to limit sprawl and water waste statewide with some
very serious legislation. I submit that a statewide incentive for
local governments to adopt the SmartCode (www.smartcodecentral.com)
would be a giant leap forward. Also, a statewide tax incentive for
targeted open land preservation would be in order. This could be done
in conjunction with a statewide regional planning standard based on
Article 2 of the SmartCode.