The head of the Iowa Environmental Council is injecting a new idea into the debate over how to finance water quality projects….
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That’s Iowa Environmental Council executive director Ralph Rosenberg. Rosenberg says a five cent “clean water fee” on each bottle of water sold in Iowa could go into a state fund for conservation projects. Rosenberg says one reason he’s offering this idea is because legislators are talking about taking state taxes dedicated to other purposes and using that money on water quality projects instead…
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Rosenberg envisions charging the fee at the point of sale, but it would not be a refundable deposit. The nickle or dime fee paid on each bottle would be deposited in a state fund. He envisions the money would be used for “cost-share” programs with farmers implementing water conservation practices on their land.