California poised to end unprecedented water restrictions amid drought

The state drought rules that have forced communities to cut back water use up to 36 percent, leading to tight residential water restrictions in many parts of California, are likely to be scrapped Wednesday.

The emergency drought rules, which assigned communities specific levels of savings based on their historic water use, were ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown last June at the height of the drought.

Many water suppliers passed their required reductions on to customers in the form of outdoor watering rules and even quotas on total water consumption.



Since June, the state has logged a 24 percent drop in water use compared to the same months in 2013 - before the governor declared a drought emergency.