Sydney residents have soaked up more water in one day than they have on any other day in more than a decade after enduring sweltering conditions.

With temperatures hovering around 35C in the city and 40C in the west, demand for water on Sunday topped the peak of the past 14 years at 2.215bn litres – about 8.8bn glasses of water.

It exceeded highest daily usage since 29 January 2003, when there was a demand for 2.273bn litres.

The 54.5bn litres soaked up in total this January – an average of 1.76bn litres a day – was also 24% higher than in the same month last year, according to Sydney Water.

It said in a statement that spikes in water usage were driven by external use such as watering gardens and asked residents to be mindful, particularly when watering gardens or washing vehicles.

But with temperatures cooling with southerly winds forecast on Monday afternoon, demand is expected to ease.



In any case, supply is not an issue with greater Sydney’s dams at 86.8% capacity on Monday. Warragamba dam was at over 89%.

It has been nearly eight years since water restrictions in Sydney were lifted.

The then water minister, Phillip Costa, ended five years of tough restrictions in June 2009 because rising dam levels had eased concerns over supply.