Tom Selleck has agreed to pay $21,685.55 to settle a lawsuit against him for his alleged water theft.

The 70-year-old actor was being sued by the Calleguas Municipal Water District in Thousand Oaks, California for syphoning tank-loads of water from a public hydrant to use at his 60-acre avocado ranch in nearby Westlake Village during a drought.

The settlement was approved yesterday (15.07.15).

As the agreement was being finalised Eric Bergh, Calleguas' resources manager, told the Los Angeles times newspaper: ''We're happy about it. It's good news.''

According to court documents made public earlier this week, the 'Blue Bloods' actor was banned from using the water hydrant because his property is situated in the Hidden Valley Municipal Water District.

Residents in California were urged by Governor Brown in January to try to reduce their water use by 25 percent due to the state's ongoing severe drought.

A private investigator who was hired for $22,000 spotted a truck transporting water to the home Tom shares with wife Jillie Mack a dozen times up until March 2015.

The couple were then accused of continuing to syphon water after the Calleguas Municipal Water District sent a cease-and-desist letter to two of their Southern California properties in 2013.