The desert city of Tucson, Arizona, recently decided to halt the expansion of its municipal water system. This decision has been taken as an oppotunity by planners to discuss the city's future growth.
"The city's move was a step toward ending ongoing water wars and uniting the metropolitan area under regional water and land-use policies."
"The potentially risky move already is bringing other local government officials to the table for what Hein called a pressing need for joint discussions of growth and water."
"'It just seems to me that we have to be able to set the table and have some rational dialogues that aren't built on turf, aren't built on egos and aren't built on political control,' he said Wednesday. 'When I talk about regional growth, we should as a region understand each other's intentions. I find more typically than not (that) all of our goals are aligned. They're just not communicated real well.'"
