LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ — Concerns still remain nearly a year after ABC15 started reporting on water pressure issues in Litchfield Park. The provider behind those pressure problems is Liberty Utilities.
With the hot summer months ahead, the company just announced changes to its curtailment tariff.
"We're all cautiously optimistic, at least here in my household," said Liberty customer John Connolly.
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That's how he feels after his experience last summer. During the worst of the water pressure issues, some people in Litchfield Park and parts of Goodyear north of Interstate 10 barely had water coming out of their faucets.
Liberty Utilities has continued to blame the hot, dry weather for the problems.
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Anna Tovar opened an investigation into the utility company after ABC15's first report, even holding a town hall last fall to address the issues.
Liberty told ABC15 in January that they made changes and showed us their new well.
“Liberty really apologizes for the experience that our customers did experience last summer,” said Liberty Senior Operations Manager Terry Gilbertson. “We are actively bringing on new assets like this [well], and evaluating our system to prevent any issues like that again in the future."
On Thursday, Commissioner Tovar told ABC15 her investigation sparked change, including an ongoing reporting requirement if Liberty experiences pressure problems again. Tovar, ultimately, confirmed the ACC's approval of a request from Liberty to expand its service area.
"We're just trying to wait it out," said Connolly.
He and Commissioner Tovar are both hopeful that last year's issues won't return.
But just before the summer months, Liberty made another change, sending customers its updated curtailment plan that's broken up into four stages. The curtailment tariff allows Liberty to request customers to reduce water consumption when demand is greater than production.
"Now everything is mandatory in Stage 3," said Connolly. "You're not watering outside except livestock."
The updated plan lowered the threshold for mandatory conservation from Stage 4 to Stage 3. If customers were to be placed in Stage 3, homeowners wouldn't be able to do things like fill their pools.
In a statement, Liberty told ABC15 the updated plan "reflects the company's current sustainability goals and curtails water use more efficiently during times of water shortage or peak demand."
The company said customers are still in Stage 1, which means conservation is just recommended. ABC15 is still working to clarify what stage customers were in last summer.
"While there is no ongoing investigation by the Commission, rest assured that my office is monitoring the Company’s operations with a hope that the same issues do not occur again," said Commissioner Tovar.
ABC15 will continue to follow up on the water pressure throughout the summer.
Liberty Utilities sent the following statement regarding the tariff:
"Liberty’s updated Curtailment Tariff was reviewed and approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) on May 8, 2024. The Updated Curtailment Tariff reflects Liberty’s current sustainability goals and curtails water use more efficiently during times of water shortages or peak demand. Customers in the Liberty Utilities Litchfield Park water service territory received notification of the revised Curtailment Tariff as required by the ACC.
A curtailment tariff is an approved tariff that allows a utility to request customers to reduce water consumption when the demand is greater than the production. The Curtailment Tariff includes four stages, and each stage indicates the detailed conservation measures for customers to follow. Please see Conservation Tariff [arizona.libertyutilities.com] on our Water Rates and Tariffs webpage [arizona.libertyutilities.com] for further information.
Currently Liberty is in Stage 1, which means Liberty is operating normally, and no curtailment is necessary, but conservation efforts are encouraged as a best management practice. If there are any changes to the curtailment stage, Liberty will update the webpage in addition to providing direct communication with impacted customers.
In addition, Stage 2 would be voluntary conservation efforts with Stage 3 being mandatory conservation as detailed in the Curtailment Tariff."
