  We reduce the problem of integer quantum Hall transition to a random rotation
of an N-dimensional vector by an su(N) algebra, where only N specially selected
generators of the algebra are nonzero. The group-theoretical structure revealed
in this way allows us to obtain a new series of conservation laws for the
equation describing the electron density evolution in the lowest Landau level.
The resulting formalism is particularly well suited to numerical simulations,
allowing us to obtain the critical exponent \nu numerically in a very simple
way. We also suggest that if the number of nonzero generators is much less than
N, the same model, in a certain intermediate time interval, describes
percolating properties of a random incompressible steady two-dimensional flow.
In other words, quantum Hall transition in a very smooth random potential
inherits certain properties of percolation.
