RALEIGH - The water supply pool in Falls Lake was at 75.9 percent of capacity as of Tuesday, meaning the city of Raleigh isn't likely to ease its restrictions on water use anytime soon.

Last week, the City Council voted to repeal the city's most severe water restrictions as soon as the drinking water portion of Falls Lake, the city's source of water, reached 90 percent. The rules, which include a ban on irrigation, also apply in the six Wake County towns that buy Raleigh water.

"We're still a couple [of] good storm events away" from 90 percent, said Ed Buchan, Raleigh's water conservation specialist.

Starting today, The News & Observer will publish the city's weekly estimates of the water supply in Falls Lake on the front of the City & State section each Wednesday.

The newspaper recently stopped using its daily weather page to report the percentage of water remaining in Falls, Jordan and Kerr lakes. We decided to drop the numbers to avoid confusion between our figures, based on calculations of the lake's elevation, and the city's weekly figures for Falls Lake, which are based on estimates of volume.

The N&O's weather page has long published water levels for Falls, Jordan and Kerr lakes in feet above mean sea level. Late last year, because of the drought, we began estimating the remaining water supply in the reservoirs on a daily basis using the height of the water column, which provided a ballpark figure.

But after the Raleigh City Council said the it would ease water restrictions when Falls Lake reached 90 percent full, we decided a ballpark figure wasn't good enough.

Raleigh will return to its so-called Stage 1.5 rules once Falls Lake is 90 percent full. Those restrictions allow pressure washing and the testing of new city water connections but prohibit watering with hand-held devices, sprinklers, automatic spray systems and volume drip irrigation systems.

Carwashes can also remain open under Stage 1.5 rules even if they have not received certification from the city.

The City Council also agreed to revert to Stage 1 rules once Falls Lake is full. Those restrictions allow outdoor watering one day a week.