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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George urged the group to adopt that same philosophy. "I think we have to work together," he said. "And I don't mean that just as words. I really mean it. Time is not on our side. We have to work together even though we've been down this road before; and boy, with water politics it seems the issues just come back again and again and again, and nothing ever happens. 'We can't let that be so. We have to figure out a new way. Maybe it's an old idea that's now right - I don't know - but we do need to put our best minds together more often and try to find a new way to move the marker just a little. That's our job." George said the ongoing Statewide Water Supply Initiative, a massive, multi-year examination water needs around the state, is a step in that direction. He warned water-congress members to resist temptation to use the supply for their own interests. "If we get diverted and use this as a tool for our own pu'rposes, it will fail," George said. "I would ask us to discipline ourselves not to do that. Give it a chance. I think it will help us move the marker a little and help us all." George said the state must improve its conservation efforts. He said the state's historic drought is not over. "I don't think any of us can tell for sure, but I suspect we are all increasingly worried that the drought's grip on us is going to be with us for a while," he said. Throughout the speech, though, George did not stray from his message of cooperating to find water solutions. 'While we're stewards of this important natural resource in this state, we have an obligation to put aside whatever keeps us from doing this and move the marker a little forward," George said. .. I "Do a better job. Leave the water situation better than we found it.