Water usage on Sunday breaks record by 40 million gallons

Phoenix residents set a new record for water usage last weekend because of the high heat. The water department says 420 million gallons of water were used Sunday, up from last year's record of 382 million gallons. Water Department spokesman David Cerull says homeowners used most of the water..

“Generally demand goes up, obviously,” Cerull said. “Usually the big change is people watering their yard more for fear of plants dying and things like that. A lot of the time the indoor usage doesn't change much at all.”

Cerull also says residents with swimming pools use more water during a heat wave because of increased evaporation.