It's dystopic in every sense of the word....bitter, without any sweet to it. D: 
 I also wonder about the world; states, and companies within the Western/Southwestern states area are fighting an unofficial militarized war with each other, and yet somehow they still want to follow some bizarre rule of finding written documentation of tribal water rights in order to file for ownership of parts of the Colorado River at court. Because supposedly the USA still has enough of an army around to stomp on civil war. But events involving exploding dams, exploding housing from missiles, widespread riots and fires, armed militias murdering refugees at state borders, or heck, state after state dying due to private corporations cutting off water....somehow doesn't raise any federal intervention? The worldview in this novel is bad enough that you'd think paperwork wouldn't be a factor. Maybe that's what makes this a true dystopia; the world can go to hell but there will still be bureaucracy.