Although a measure to tax bottled water failed to get enough signatures to appear on the ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, the petition drive started an important discussion that should be continued. The crux of that discussion is not so much preserving Maine’s water, but using it well.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap announced Monday that the citizen initiative effort to place An Act to Preserve Maine’s Drinking Water Supply on the November 2006 ballot fell short of the required 50, 519 signatures. His office ruled that more than 7,100 of the 56, 287 submitted signatures were invalid. That left 49,100 valid signatures. Given the small margin, the secretary’s decision is likely to be appealed.

Of the 24 trillion gallons of water that, on average, falls on Maine each year, between 2 trillion and 5 trillion becomes ground water. Of that, public water supplies use about 8 billion gallons, agriculture sucks up 360 million gallons and bottlers about 448 million, mostly by Poland Spring. There are two dozen smaller water bottlers in Maine that make up the rest, then there are various industries and all the home wells and other small uses.

Whether the water tax question ultimately ends up on the ballot, it has had the positive effect of focusing attention on the state’s water supply and how it is used. Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a bill launching a review of state groundwater regulations. The purpose of the study is to identify any changes in state law needed to ensure a consistent, integrated and scientifically sound state policy with regard to groundwater withdrawal. The council is to report its findings by January 2007. The task force held its first meeting earlier this month.

Former Rep. Jim Wilfong, who led the petition drive, is to be commended for focusing attention on Maine’s water and how it is used. Although the measure he crafted – levying 20 cents a gallon on bottled water after the first 500,000 extracted each year – was more a rough draft than a finished idea, he was on to a big idea: Maine has something of value in its clean water. Realizing that value is still an idea worth pursuing.