Vermont Wrestles With Groundwater Supplies, Would-Be Bottlers

Vermont needs public trust protections and more for its precious groundwater, its residents are learning - - the hard way, reports The New York Times.

As is somewhat better known in this part of the world, the Great Lakes Compact and Wisconsin law offers some protections that would make it hard, but not impossible, for a bottler to begin shipping Wisconsin water far from the state.

Public outcry stopped the Perrier plan a few years ago, it's true, but the operation ended up in Michigan, where Nestle, under the Ice Mountain brand, ships an unlimited volume of Great Lakes water far and wide in containers less than 5.7 gallons each.

We haven't heard the last of this issue in the Great Lakes region, or in Vermont, or in many places around the country and world where demand for water, and its profitability, is growing fast.