As one local water expert, who did not wish to be named, explained: “There is only a certain amount of available water for the community, no one really knows how much. 

“Why should the wealthy be able to drain these community water sources at will, from their private wells without oversight, only to sustain lush green lawns and gardens?”

Residents who exceed their monthly allowance are penalised and billed in increasingly higher price tiers.

In 2014, Harry and Meghan’s friend and neighbour, Oprah Winfrey, the chat show host, was forced to truck thousands of gallons of water to her 40-acre “Promised Land” estate after a drought. That summer, 837 residents coughed up $532,000 (£393,000) in penalties over their water use.

For decades, south-west American homeowners have been encouraged to conserve water, forgo green gardens, and instead install rock and cacti gardens indigenous to the region.

In December 2020, the Duke likened himself to a raindrop when he launched the Netflix-style streaming platform WaterBear, which is dedicated to conservation documentaries, campaigns and eco-travel films.

“Every single raindrop that falls from the sky relieves the parched ground,” he said. “What if every single one of us was a raindrop, and if every single one of us cared? At the end of the day, nature is our life source… But you can’t uplift, educate, and inspire unless there is a form of action that follows. For me, it’s putting in the ‘dos’ behind the ‘says’. There’s a lot of people that say, but this is about action.”