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Farmers in central California are drilling more and deeper wells than ever before to pump water for their fruit orchards and sprawling fields following government imposed limits on surface water. Two years after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill designed to limit groundwater pumping, new wells are going in faster and deeper than ever, according to an analysis by the Sacramento Bee published Sunday. Farmers dug about 2,500 wells in the San Joaquin Valley last year alone, the highest number on record.

The best guess about the weather forecast for the next several months is that its anybody’s guess. There could be more rain and snow, less rain and snow or a neutral amount of precipitation. Up until a month ago, forecasters thought the state might experience a La Niña weather pattern. Predictions are based upon water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator. La Niña is a cooler weather pattern that often results in above normal precipitation in the Pacific northwest, dry conditions elsewhere.

Could capturing California’s stormwater be one way to combat the state’s historic drought? California’s State Water Resources Control Board recently announced it will be providing $9.5 million in grants to 28 different stormwater capture projects. Felicia Marcus, Chairwoman for the Board, called stormwater capture “a smart investment in the future.” “An overdue and welcome shift is occurring in California in how we think about storm water,” said State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus in a statement to the press.

As the old saying goes, “Someone with one watch knows what time it is, someone with two watches is never sure.” Water accounting is fundamental to water management, but is not easy.  But any accounting is more difficult and expensive if it is less organized.  To illustrate this point, let’s look at estimates of one of the largest, most important, and “easiest” to measure flows in California: the annual pumped quantity of California’s State Water Project (SWP) Banks Pumping Plant (Banks) in the Delta for the years 2006 through 2010.

State Water Board staff recently released a draft proposal to update minimum flow standards for the Lower San Joaquin River to the Delta. This is only one part of the information needed. To provide a complete picture of the needs in the Delta, I urge the board to move quickly to complete the remainder of their analysis on the Sacramento River basin.Delay may be too costly. The need to improve our aquatic ecosystems is urgent. Many communities are paralyzed and fearful of a lengthy and unpredictable regulatory process.