This has virtually no impact on the aquifer:
> According to the United States Geological Survey, total withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer system in 2000 were ranked 5th highest of all principal aquifers in the Nation at 3,640 million gallons per day (Mgal/d)
It’s also not only a FL problem. Nestle has similar contracts with other states too.
That’s similar to saying farms should pay the state for using soil.
If they bought the land and proportionately drew water, then, okay. They’d pay taxes on the land asf.
Edit: It's 1Mg/day not 100Mg/day. Changed above.
It is still a larger portion from just that section of the aquifer near the Sante Fe river. Exactly how much I do not know. Bottling water is a contentious issue and I'm not entirely certain how to feel about it. Sure it can be beneficial for providing water to areas without any safe supply. It just rubs me the wrong way that Nestle doesn't pay any money for it so it isn't exactly a "utility" cost for those people.
Nobody seems to ever worry about the production of beer, wine or soda which requires an order of magnitude more fresh water per unit sold.
In fact, using this website even requires the use of water. According to the department of energy, data centres in the US will use a 174 billion gallons of water next year.
That is about 500 gallons of water per year, for every man woman and child in the US.
https://www.watercalculator.org/water-use/data-centers-water...