Nudist Colony Steals Water for Swimming Pool in Draught

For nearly seven weeks, the pumping had been illegally draining water from a creek near Los Gatos CA.

Authorities say hundreds of thousands of gallons of water was being siphoned out of a creek and pumped to the clothing-optional Lupin Lodge. Los Gatos is in the San Francisco area, and the lodge caters to those who like to tan everywhere!

The creek is located in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, a wildlife protected area and therefore off limits to water diversion.

State officials say the resort was pumping some 6,000 gallons of water per day, some of which was used to fill their swimming pool, and this had been going on every day for over seven weeks! That's enough water to fill 1/3rd of an Olympic-sized pool, but enough to fill at least 73 smaller, typical backyard pools.

Officials at the resort, which opened in 1935, had been allowed to divert water from a waterfall over half a mile away during similar droughts in the 1970's. The previous property owner had given them permission, said resort officials. They claim such actions give them previous water rights, but Midpeninsula state officials say no.

The resort had been warned in recently about making such attempts, but it didn't stop workers from running a 3/4 inch rubber irrigation hose from the nearby Hendry's Creek waterfall area.

Resort officials said due to California's extreme drought, they'd been having to bring in water by the tanker truckload. A 3,800 gallon supply costs them about $400 a pop, said officials. The state has been suffering the drought dating well back into last year, and statewide, officials say citizens have cut back on water use by at least 7.5%. Thousands of lawns have gone brown, and non-essential watering has been stopped months ago.

No word if they were going to be given a hefty bill for the water, or if they face charges.