While this winter’s precipitation was good news for Northern California, that story doesn’t translate to much of the Inland Empire, area water managers said Tuesday. “The precipitation that refills our underground storage basins is actually below average, so far,” said Bob Tincher, manager of water resources for San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District. “So if it were to stop raining today, even with the wet year in Northern California, our groundwater storage levels could actually decrease again this year.” The Inland Empire needs three consecutive above-average precipitation years to refill local groundwater basins, he said.