On Tuesday, California water regulators adopted some restrictions on use of water by people, governments and businesses. The state came with rules as it tackles a current drought, looking forward to push reluctant residents to increased water conservation.

Rules approved by the State Water Resources Control Board compel cities to limit watering on public property. This encourages homeowners to allow their lawns dry. The rules impose compulsory water-savings targets for several local agencies and cities, which supply water to California customers.

Gov. Jerry Brown supports more strict regulations, saying that until now voluntary conservation efforts have not led to the water savings required amid a four-year drought. He asked water agencies to reduce urban water use by
25% as compared with 2013.

Board Chairman Felicia Marcus said on Tuesday that it is a requirement to get prepared now rather than facing cuts in case of less rainfall. He gave the statement as the board voted 5-0 for approval of the new rules.

According to Jennifer Hansen with the city, it is not easy to achieve this target since irrigation is already restricted to two days a week.

"Going down to one day a week watering, we'll be seeing brown lawns. Trying to go down to zero days a week watering to meet our 36 percent on average throughout the year may even require more stringent measures for outdoor water use", according to Hansen.

The rules are said to be mandatory, but it's yet unclear that what punishment will or can be imposed by the state water board and local agencies for people who don't follow the rules. There are not enough staff members in the board to manage each of the hundreds of water agencies, which vary from each other.