OK, I applied the work around. I can confirm that:
1) after re-engaging ET the water level percentage was updated
2) wto entry has been abbreviated to: wto: {baseETo: 0.16, elevation: 246, d: 24}
So now it seems to work just fine.
If i run into any hangups with ET not phoning home (yep, had that one coming;), I will post a reply here. If no news, good news!
And a lot less work then redefining everything. Thanks a lot Ray!