The three of them soon become tangled in a hunt for a water resource that may save Phoenix and possibly the state of Arizona. He also meets a young Texas refugee named Maria Villarosa, who is fighting to escape Phoenix's destructive world before it destroys her.

While in Phoenix, Angel meets a hardcore journalist named Lucy Monroe, who has been writing about the violence and destruction destroying the city. Large numbers of Arizona and Texas refugees are living in tents next to Red Cross relief pumps so they can access water. Angel soon discovers Phoenix is dying as more and more housing projects are cut off from water and people are left homeless. When Case hears stories of a possible new water resource discovered in Arizona, she sends Angel to Phoenix to investigate.

She is building luxurious arcology developments where the rich can escape the dying world and live in lush, green indoor environments filled with waterfalls and exotic plants. What starts as a legal battle soon becomes a war with militias and national guard troops guarding water sources and defending borders to keep out refugees from other states.Įnter Angel Velasquez, a water knife whose job it is to cut off the water resources of people and communities who can no longer pay their bills, or of those who interfere with the water needs of his employer, the Southern Nevada Water Authority.Īngel's boss, Catherine Case, is a successful developer and head of the SNWA. Leaders of these three states are locked in a battle for the shrinking resources of the Colorado River. While all the states are struggling, the ones most affected by the shortage are Nevada, Arizona and California. 'The Water Knife,' a new novel by Paolo Bacigalupi, takes place in the not-too-distant future where climate change has created a shortage of water in most of the western U.S. ' THE WATER KNIFE ,' by Paolo Bacigalupi, Alfred A.

The water knife novel