Tom Selleck has reached a tentative settlement over his alleged water theft.

The 70-year-old actor had been the subject of a lawsuit from the Calleguas Municipal Water District in Thousand Oaks, California of using a public hydrant to fill a commercial water tank installed at his 60-acre avocado ranch in nearby Westlake Village but the authority says they are now close to settling the matter.

Details of the settlement are confidential pending approval by the water district's board, who will consider the offer at a meeting on Wednesday (15.07.15).

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.

The complaint claims a private investigator, 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 have also been accused of continuing to steal water after the Calleguas Municipal Water District sent a cease-and-desist letter to two of their Southern California properties in 2013.

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.