Emergency regulations force some communities to cut water use by as much as 36% as devastating drought enters fourth yearCalifornia has adopted its first rules for mandatory cuts in urban water use as a catastrophic drought enters its fourth year. The emergency regulations, which require some communities to trim water use by as much as 36%, were approved unanimously on Tuesday by the state water resources control board weeks after the Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, stood in a drying meadow and ordered statewide rationing.