An eight-year drought in Southern California and a recent ruling by a federal judge led the board to declare a water supply shortage in this city of almost 500,000.

The city’s new rules will limit the number of days, duration and times for landscape irrigation and will place some restrictions on restaurants’ water use, among otherregulations.

Normal water rules that already are in place, such as prohibitions against excessive runoff from irrigation or using a continuously running hose to wash a car, will remain in effect, officials said.

The water department doesn’t plan to patrol neighborhoods for water-use violations, Wattier said, but instead will rely on the department’s hotline and e-mail for water violation reports.

Source: Long Beach (Calif.) Press Telegram