In 2015, the Calleguas Municipal Water District sued Tom Selleck for using water from a public fire hydrant to nourish his avocado farm during a prolonged drought, according to NBC News. The P.I. assigned to the case found that Selleck had sent a truck from Ventura County – where his farm is located – to retrieve water and bring it back to his crops. The water district sought to block Selleck from accessing the out-of-district water. They also demanded that he repay them for the price of the private investigator.
In late July, Selleck and the district settled their confrontation. According to The Guardian, Selleck took responsibility for obtaining the water and agreed to write the district a check for around $21,000. At the time, Thomas Slosson, the district’s president – reiterated how unfair Selleck’s actions were to the locals. “Underpinning these laws is the concept of basic fairness,” he said. “That is, residents and businesses within the district -– the rightful users of district water -– paid for the construction, maintenance and operation of the public works necessary to meet their water needs, not those of other landowners outside Calleguas’ legal boundaries.”
