California has serious water challenges as Governor Jerry Brown issued a mandatory restriction on usage for the first time. Writing on revealnews.com in an excellent in-depth examination between the two countries, Nathan Halverson notes that Saudi Arabia’s challenges with water present lessons for the largest state in the U.S.

A satirical cartoon from the New Yorker on California’s water challenges.

Halverson dives into the history of Saudi Arabia’s water use and the resulting shortages that took only three decades to achieve:

“Saudi Arabia’s mysteriously disappearing water came to light around the turn of the century. By 2002, the government had formed the Ministry of Water to search for answers. But the Sherlock Holmes of this story came from a surprising background…A Saudi banker turned water detective put together the pieces in 2004 and published the now seminal report ‘Camels Don’t Fly, Deserts Don’t Bloom.’ Elie Elhadj’s investigation revealed the culprit: Wealthy farmers had been allowed to drain the aquifers unchecked for three decades…A combination of money and water could make even a desert bloom, until either the money or the water runs out,” Elhadj said. For Saudi Arabia, it was the water.”

[What California can learn from Saudi Arabia’s water mystery – revealnews.com]