Preventing useless multiple disk writes

[gontajones]

I think that when you initialize the gpio as input it resets and either becomes low or floating so it does not retain it last status.

I think you're right.
Lets try without setting it as input:

GPIO.setup(gpio, GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(gpio, GPIO.HIGH)
print(GPIO.input(gpio))
GPIO.output(gpio, GPIO.LOW)
print(GPIO.input(gpio))

I got a bit further by defining the prevpumpstat variable in datalog.py and including it in the call to pumpcontrol.

This is a more concise way to do it (IMHO). I thought that you couldn't modify the previous code.