Thousands of miles of irrigation makes the water almost toxically saline by the time it reaches the border. Did you know that our largest desalination plant is far from any coast? The Yuma Desalination Plant on the Colorado River ensures that the water we send on to Mexico satisfies international treaty. It details the construction of the LA aqueduct using mules it reveals the snail darter controversy as a boondoggle of an evil bureaucracy it details the pissing contest between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The 1986 Cadillac Desert (with a 1993 addendum) details water-related shenanigans too absurd for science fiction.

It begs the reader to read Cadillac Desert ( which I reviewed here). The Water Knife is clearly a call to action. After The Water Knife piqued my interest, I read two nonfiction books about societal collapse and the history of water rights: Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert and Jared Diamond’s Collapse. Then again, I’ve lived most of my life in Missouri, New York, and Virginia I knew nothing about water scarcity. Although I enjoyed the book, I couldn’t buy into the central crisis of the book-a water crisis severe enough to send states practically to war with one another. It’s a semi-apocalyptic view of water shortages in the not-too-distant future American west.

A few months ago I read and reviewed Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife.

Cadillac desert