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.
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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.”