Exhibit 99.1

     WALTER INDUSTRIES, INC. SETS DISTRIBUTION RATIO FOR SPIN-OFF OF MUELLER
                      WATER PRODUCTS, INC. SERIES B SHARES

    TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Walter Industries, Inc. (NYSE:
WLT) announced today that, in association with the previously announced spin-off
of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE: MWA), Walter Industries' shareholders of
record as of Dec. 6, 2006 would receive 1.6524432 shares of Mueller Water
Products Series B common stock on Dec. 14, 2006.

    Only whole shares of Mueller Water Products Series B common stock will be
delivered to shareholders. Fractional shares of Mueller Water Products Series B
common stock will not be distributed. Instead, shareholders entitled to a
fractional share of Mueller Water Products Series B common stock will receive a
cash payment for their fractional share interest.

    About Walter Industries

    Walter Industries, Inc. is a diversified company with consolidated annual
revenues of approximately $3.2 billion. The Company is a significant producer of
high-quality metallurgical coal and natural gas for worldwide markets and is a
leader in affordable homebuilding and financing. Walter Industries also is a
majority shareholder of Mueller Water Products, a leading water infrastructure,
flow control and water transmission products company. Including Mueller Water,
the Company employs approximately 10,000 people. For more information about
Walter Industries, please visit the Company Web site at
http://www.walterind.com.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this
release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's
actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results.
Those risks include, among others, changes in customers' demand for the
Company's products, changes in raw material, labor, equipment and transportation
costs and availability, geologic and weather conditions, changes in extraction
costs and pricing in the Company's mining operations, changes in customer
orders, pricing actions by the Company's competitors, changes in law, potential
changes in the mortgage-backed capital market, and general changes in economic
conditions. Those risks also include the timing of and ability to execute the
spin-off of the Company's Mueller Water Products subsidiary and any other
strategic action that may be pursued. Risks associated with forward-looking
statements are more fully described in the Company's and Mueller's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no duty to update
its forward-looking statements as of any future date.

SOURCE  Walter Industries, Inc.
    -0-                             12/07/2006
    /CONTACT: Investors, Mark H. Tubb, Vice President - Investor Relations,
+1-813-871-4027, or mtubb@walterind.com, or Media, Michael A. Monahan, Director
- Corporate Communications, +1-813-871-4132, or mmonahan@walterind.com, both of
Walter Industries, Inc./
    /First Call Analyst: /
    /FCMN Contact: /
    /Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020429/FLM010LOGO-c
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    /Web site:  http://www.walterind.com/