In recent weeks our San Antonio newspaper has had articles about our growth as a city and area. It calls for a concern that has been voiced many a time. That call is to make sure we provide for our future, in particular the future of those coming to share our part of the country. The need for water is evident. And in recent newspaper articles, the San Antonio Water System has embarked on moving to supply our water needs for the future. The SAWS board of trustees approved a proposal that would pipe in fresh water from Central Texas. It could provide over 5 billion gallons of water for us. As well, the utility made headway on another project to diversify its water sources. SAWS broke ground on a desalination plant in southern Bexar County that officials project to one day be the largest inland facility in the nation. It will produce 12 million gallons of drinkable water a day ? it is good for 40,000 households ? once it starts up in October 2016. By the end of the three-phase project in 2026, the plant is expected to yield 30 million gallons of water per day, according to a SAWS release. The plant will remove 97 percent of salt and minerals from brackish groundwater pumped out of the Wilcox Aquifer. But San Antonio's cheapest source of water is conservation ? water we don't use. That's why proven conservation programs have become a cornerstone of the community's long-term water management strategy. Conservation starts with each one of us. There are many steps you can take to conserve our most precious resource ? water. By adopting conservation techniques for saving water benefits us all?Now read Isaiah 55: 1-3? This is our first reading this weekend. What is the cost that God identifies for the water, the grain, the wine and the milk we drink? According to Isaiah, there is no cost. But why spend your money on that which will not satisfy? The final verses ? verse 2b and 3 ? remind us of what is important and where life will be found. Did you see it in Isaiah? It is in fulfilling the covenant ? the agreement ? that God wants to make with us, similar to the one he made with David. There life will be found. Our thirst will be quenched and our life shall eat well and we will delight in rich fare. Are you ready to sign on the dotted line of this covenant God is offering us?

Msgr. Mike