News stories tend to occur in clusters, with several stories about a particular topic suddenly appearing. For example, a number of news stories about fish recently surfaced. With six or seven at last count, the fish stories are running in a school.

A classic controversy is being played out in the Sierra Vista area as officials grapple with a trio of issues growth, water and the preservation of the San Pedro River.

Water issues likely will take a back seat to tax cuts, education reform, and challenges to unfunded federal mandates in the 1995 session of Arizona's 42nd legislature. Among natural resource topics, air quality appears to be the top priority.

Dedicated to saving plants and animals from extinction, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) also has complicated and far-reaching effects on water policy. As stated by a speaker at a recent conference at the Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado, "The ESA is behind much of what is happening and will happen in water law."

Achieving safe yield, the fundamental objective of Arizona's 1980 Groundwater Management Act (GMA), may prove to be a more elusive goal than once expected. The GMA mandated that the Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott Active Management Areas (AMAs) achieve safe yield, a balancing of groundwater withdrawals with recharge, by the year 2025. Some of the assumptions and projections used to set the goal, however, have not held up after 20 years, with the result that safe yield may be a difficult target for some AMAs to reach.

In working to ensure adequate water supplies, a quest that is critical and ongoing, officials must not overlook another concern of great importance - the collection and preservation of state water records and information. Obtaining consumable water supplies and managing permanent state water records are both areas of concern.

Settling Central Arizona Project issues has evolved into a long-running and complex saga. In a recent development, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation halted work on an environmental impact statement (EIS) reviewing proposed modifications of existing CAP water allocations. BuRec had little choice in the matter since Senator Jon Kyl inserted into an appropriations bill an amendment to cut off funding for work on the EIS.

According to a recent WorldWatch Institute study aquacultural or fish farming output is growing at 11 percent a year, representing the fastest growing sector of the world food economy. In fact, fish farming is likely to overtake cattle ranching as a global food source by the end of this decade, says the report.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced a new initiative "GeoPowering the West," an effort to promote the development and use of geothermal power in the western states. According to DOE, all of Arizona's neighboring states have good geothermal resources, with California, Nevada and Utah listed as the top three states with electrical generation potential and New Mexico considered a high potential state. Arizona does not make the rankings.

They call themselves the Settlement Group, an organization made up of water users along the Upper Santa Cruz River in search of solutions to local water concerns. Its goals are ambitious and far-reaching, to settle the water rights of its members and to identify the best management plan for managing those rights.