photo credit: California Department of Water Resources

If you need to tap a new well, now is the time to do it.

Permit Sonoma is accepting and issuing new water well permits until at least the end of March, said Permit Sonoma Director Tennis Wick.

"There was a original stay of the judge's prohibition of well permits being issued, and so that became effective on sixth February, and then there was an extension of that stay to 27 March," Wick said.

Sonoma County is currently in court over the well permitting rules, but thanks to the judge's order, Permit Sonoma is still allowed to review and approve well permits over the next 13 days.

"Our role as the administrators is to simply carry out or not carry out the permitting function depending on the order of the court," Wick said.

This latest lawsuit, filed against Sonoma County by Russian Riverkeeper and California Coastkeeper in December, concerns potential overuse and harm to public trust water resources, namely Russian River water.

It's part of a long standing disagreement between the county and environmental groups over the extraction of groundwater in Sonoma County.