LIVE from the ACWA

We’re in San Diego this week—are you? You’ll find WeatherTools at Booth #904.  Stop by and say hello!

Whether you’re an ACWA regular or not, you’ve probably heard of Thad Bettner, a long-time voice in the California water world with experience across engineering, management, and policy. Thad knows how challenging—and rewarding—a career in California water can be.

We’re excited to catch up with Thad this week at ACWA and wanted to share his perspective on early-season precipitation forecast.  

Enjoy!

Thad Bettner: Engineering Solutions in a Complicated Water World

Thad Bettner doesn’t romanticize California water.
Engineering taught him that every problem has a solution. California water taught him otherwise.

“I used to think everything was black and white,” he says. “But in California, water, agriculture, and the environment are all interconnected. Nothing is simple.”

With a career that’s spanned engineering, management, and policy, Bettner has spent decades trying to solve problems that never come with easy answers. Growing up in the San Joaquin Valley, he saw firsthand how much was at stake. Farming itself didn’t call to him, but the connection to land and water did. While classmates were designing highways and office towers, Bettner was studying irrigation systems, water delivery, and efficiency.

As his career advanced and he became General Manager of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, the problems only got more complicated.

Balancing Science, Policy, and People

“As an engineer, my instinct was to say, ‘Here’s the solution—here’s how to fix it.’ But I’ve learned that people have different perspectives. You can’t just push a solution on them. You have to be patient, understand where they’re coming from, and bring them along to build collaborative solutions. It takes time and relationships.”

That balance of technical skill and collaborative patience eventually led Bettner to launch Water Ecology, his own consulting firm. There, he’s helped agencies tackle everything from groundwater modeling to management strategy—always working at the delicate intersection of science, policy, and people.

It was exactly this perspective that drew him to WeatherTools.

A New Kind of Forecast

“When Rob first told me what he was building, I realized right away how valuable it could be,” Bettner recalls. “Knowing your water supply earlier in the year is huge. It’s the kind of information I wish I’d had throughout my career.”

For him, the promise of Weather Tools isn’t about stacking one more forecast on the pile—it’s about an entirely different kind of forecast.

“Everybody’s using a forecast of some sort,” he says. “DWR puts one out, NOAA, even the Farmers’ Almanac. The question is always: how reliable is it and can you plan around it?”

Most forecasts, he explains, lean on probabilities or historical averages—percentages of what might happen. “Weather Tools is different. It’s actionable. It gives managers information they can make real decisions with.”

And those decisions matter.

A New Standard for Water Management

“Every water manager knows there will be dry years,” he says. “The difference is whether you can prepare ahead of time instead of scrambling in crisis mode. Having reliable information in November gives boards and managers flexibility—they can hedge, plan, and make better use of resources. Decisions made in the moment are almost always harder and more expensive.”

He knows from experience. In his last year as a general manager,2022–23, the NOAA outlook pointed to another year of drought. “We spent a ton of energy preparing for the worst,” Bettner recalls. “If I’d had Weather Tools forecast, indicating 20–40% above normal, we could have shifted some of that energy toward other priorities. That’s a big difference.”

Looking ahead, Bettner believes Weather Tools’ CAP and CRAFT forecasts will become standard practice across California once agencies see how to use them. For someone who understands just how messy California’s water picture can be, his confidence in the clarity they provide is striking.

“Weather Tools’ forecasting ability is so different from what managers have relied on in the past,” he says. “It’s the certainty the water community has wanted for a long time.”

After decades of managing water in all its complexity, Bettner’s advice to his peers is simple:

“Here’s your forecast. Use it. Don’t wait until you’re scrambling in crisis mode. It will change how you plan, how you manage, and how you prepare for the future.”