In response, Raleigh made restrictions mandatory, with a $500 penalty for violators.
Several local governments elsewhere in the state have imposed mandatory restrictions.
They agree to voluntary restrictions and then work against these mandatory restrictions.
The groups said that mandatory restrictions were not justified and would not be effective.
Several companies that did not have mandatory restrictions allowed women to voluntarily transfer out of jobs involving reproductive hazards.
The mayor said that the city was now two to six weeks away from declaring a drought emergency and imposing mandatory restrictions on water use.
Those mandatory restrictions are in addition to the county's voluntary ones.
Several bills that would set mandatory restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, have been introduced in Congress.
It, not spelled out in the story, declared mandatory restrictions on water usage throughout the state.
There are also mandatory restrictions of some constitutional rights for all types of intentional murder.