Lady Gaga: California’s new drought spokeswoman

Lady Gaga has a new message for all of her “little monsters”: Save water.

The five-time Grammy Award winner will soon be on the air with a public service announcement urging Californians to do their part to help with the state’s drought.

So how did Lady Gaga become the new face of drought awareness? It started when the “Poker Face” singer wanted to use Hearst Castle for what the Hearst Castle Foundation is calling “a special creative project.”

The San Simeon estate, which is now a state park, is doing its part to help with the water crunch. Its marble-lined Neptune pool has been drained since January. But Gaga wanted it filled for the film shoot.

So park officials and the singer came up with a plan. Gaga would pay for water to be pumped from an on-site irrigation storage facility to fill the cracked pool, which was leaking up to 5,000 gallons of water per day.

The water will be returned after the photo shoot, officials said, and the cost of the transfer will be picked up by Gaga.

The singer, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, will donate $250,000 to the Hearst Castle Foundation, part of which will be used to repair the pool, in addition to the standard $22,000 fee for filming at the estate. She is also paying $25,000 for a water supply study in Cambria, according to a statement from the foundation.

As part of the deal, Gaga also filmed a public service announcement promoting water conservation, and she spread the message to her 41 million Twitter followers and elsewhere on social media.

The singer’s contribution caught the attention of Gov. Jerry Brown, who has his own history with pop stars. The governor penned a thank you note to Gaga, a copy of which was provided by her publicist and Brown’s office.

“I want to personally thank you for the aide (sic) and assistance you are providing to Hearst Castle, the communities surrounding San Simeon and the state as a whole,” Brown wrote. “I’ve called on all Californians to conserve water in every way possible and the assistance you are providing will aide in that effort.”

Water for the shoot was taken from the park’s storage facilities, a spokesman said, and no outside water is used. Any water lost in the transfer is being replaced through personal donation from the privately owned Hearst Ranch. The water will be used for irrigation.

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Twitter: @anthonyyorklat

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