Lady Gaga Music Video Shoot At Hearst Castle Wastes 356,000 Gallons Of Water During Worst Drought In California History — See The Photo Proof
Apr. 15 2014, Published 6:23 a.m. ET
Lady Gaga has come under fire for wasting drought-stricken California water — all for her latest music video shoot, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.
The five-time Grammy Award-winner recently shot the video for "G.U.Y.” — it features a medley of songs off of ARTPOP — at the historic Hearst Castle, a National and California Historical Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of San Simeon, Calif.
Gaga, 28, utilized the iconic Neptune Pool at the famed estate, a perfect backdrop considering it offers an expansive vista of the mountains, ocean and the main house.
One source revealed that Gaga agreed to donate $250,000 to the Hearst Castle Foundation, whose mission is to help preserve and restore the Hearst Castle's twenty five thousand artifacts, in order to have the pool filled with water from an on-site irrigation plant.
The pool had to be drained before the shoot because it was leaking 5000 gallons of water each day.
However, once Gaga had finished filming, the water — earmarked to be re-used for on-site irrigation at the state park — was discovered to be unusable, a source who works at the Castle told Radar.
"The water had to be chlorinated because Gaga got into the pool with synchronized swimmers,” the insider, who asked not to be identified, said.
"Since the water was chlorinated, it couldn't be used for any of the irrigation or landscaping at the Castle. The water was simply drained and disposed of.
"It was a huge waste of water which is such a precious resource in California at the moment because of the draught.”
2013 was the driest year California had experienced in 119 years.
In January, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a draught emergency with many communities imposing strict water restrictions.
What’s more, President Barack Obama even traveled to the Golden State in February and announced the federal government would pledge $183 million in aid for draught relief programs.
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Ironically, as a trade off, Gaga also agreed to film public service announcements educating Californian's on how to save and conserve water!
It's unclear if the “Poker Face” singer was aware that the water was disposed of.
"It's just ridiculous that all of that water was just dumped out after the video shoot was finished,” said our source.
"It's extremely hypocritical for Gaga to be filming PSA's telling Californian's how to save water, when she just wasted so much of it!"
The waste of water did not seem to phase Governor Brown, who penned a thank-you note to Gaga, praising her for bringing awareness to conservation awareness.
"I want to personally thank you for the aid and assistance you are providing to Hearst Castle, the communities surrounding San Simeon and the state as a whole,” he said.
"I've called on all Californians to conserve water in every way possible and the assistance you are providing will aide in that effort."
A rep for Gaga didn't respond to request for comment, though a spokesperson for California State Parks insisted chlorinated water at "very low levels” was still be "used for irrigation purposes at Hearst Castle."