VALLEY CENTER, Calif. -- Seeing the lush vistas of Valley Center, looking over the groves of Stehly Organic Farms would make many wonder if a drought is really affecting California.

However, looks can be deceiving.

"We don't have the water we need here," said farmer Noel Stehly.

Stehly is a third-generation farmer. His grandfather started with an orange grove in Anaheim, but for more than a generation the gentle hills of Valley Center have been his home.

"This is my farm; I was born and raised here," said Stehly.

But for Stehly, and for every farmer in southern and central California, life is changing.

"The water cutbacks we expect in April will be another blow to farmers in San Diego County," said Eric Larson of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

That is because farmers are already operating with 30 percent less water than they had a little more than a year ago. The reason why gets to the heart of the larger issue.

"We're in a regulatory drought. The reservoirs are down, but there's water being sent to the delta and not down here," said Stehly.

A regulatory drought is Stehly's way of describing the situation stemming from a court order in late 2007. A Fresno judge ruled too much water was being pumped out of the Sacramento Delta -- one of two main sources for San Diego County's water.

"The pumps that aren't running are not running because they are killing 'endangered species;' the delta smelt," said Stehly.

The delta smelt is a tiny fish between one and two inches long. Up until the 2007 ruling, their numbers were plunging.

Environmentalists hailed the 2007 decision, and even Larson admitted because of the Endangered Species Act, the judge did not have much choice.

"The judge had a narrow window for decision-making. He couldn't consider farmers or the economic or social damage to the state," said Larson.

The economic and social damage will more than likely get a lot worse.

San Diego County farmers are now awaiting a decision due next month on how much water they will receive this year. A cut could be as high as 75 percent, and that could be catastrophic.

Stehly is doing everything he can to prepare.

"We upgraded our irrigation system to the tune of $100,000," said Stehly.

Soon, Californians will have to start thinking like Stehly, as the next round of cuts won't just be directed at farmers.

Long term, Larson said the solution to the state's water woes is pretty simple.

"The real solution is to move water around the delta without going through the fish environment," said Larson.

That would mean building a peripheral canal around the delta, but the idea is very unpopular in Northern California.

Stehly and Larson said conservation is the most important thing. Beyond that, they both said ideas like water reclamation and desalination need to be looked into.