How do I keep the comparators safe from being destroyed by the water?

I'm sure there's a post somewhere that goes into this but I can't figure out the wording to find it

I need the comparator that's currently powered to tell the unpowered one that the crafter is empty and not taking any items

When the unpowered comparator senses the crafter has Sugarcane in 3 slots it should power itself up, activate the redstone line and tell the observer a change has been made and that will activate the crafter to automatically craft paper it worked this way once before I blocked off the water

Now the issue at the moment is that I need the currently blocked off water to flow into the hopper without breaking the redstone circuit

Would it be easier to scootch the sugarcane farm up 1 block? Or is there a layout I can use that the redstone won't preemptively tell the observer or the unpowered comparator something is happening?

Much appreciated for any advice