LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — California regulators are expected to consider statewide mandatory water conservation measures as the worst drought in recent memory grows more severe, according to a KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO report.

The State Water Resources Board voted unanimously Wednesday to approve emergency regulations for nine months that would speed the process the board uses to force some rights holders to stop diverting from rivers and streams, The Associated Press reported.

The move comes after the board learned just 31 percent of the state’s nearly 10,000 water-rights holders responded to curtailment notices in the past six weeks, according to The Associated Press.

But as KNX 1070’s Charles Feldman reports the agency will consider further mandatory measures later this month that could go beyond what some Los Angeles and some other local cities are already doing.