LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ — Liberty Utilities has been dealing with backlash from customers for months after water pressure issues plagued Litchfield Park and parts of Goodyear north of I-10 in the summer of 2023.
The utility company, even Wednesday, blamed the hot, dry weather and demand last summer for their issues. Eventually, pressure improved, but only after Liberty used extra water from the City of Goodyear.
“There will be times that my water will stop, so there will be zero pressure,” said Litchfield Park City Mayor Thomas Schoaf, as he described the issues he experienced at a town hall in November.
People there told ABC15 they wanted long-term solutions and didn’t want to be worried about a repeat in 2024.
But customer’s fear has lingered for months, and the pressure issues at one point even impacted new development.
After ABC15’s reporting, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Anna Tovar opened an investigation into Liberty.
After months of denying interview requests, Liberty agreed to take ABC15 to its new well.
“This is the Marbella Well 2. It came online after September of last year,” said Liberty Senior Operations Manager Terry Gilbertson.
This well was supposed to be online earlier in 2023, but supply chain issues delayed the process.
“From start to finish, for a well to come online, would probably take anywhere from I would say two to three years,” said Liberty Engineer Suvheera Addepally.
While President of Liberty Arizona and Texas Moses Thompson were unable to join on the trip, ABC15 still took questions straight from customers to Liberty representatives.
“Liberty really apologizes for the experience that our customers did experience last summer,” said 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.”
ABC15 asked twice if the situation in the summer of 2023 was avoidable.
“I don't really have an answer to that, I don't want to speculate if we could have avoided that because our system is sound,” said Gilbertson.
Even though Liberty is still part of an ongoing ACC investigation, the utility provider has been actively trying to expand their service area.
“Liberty's got adequate production and storage. We are evaluating all of our processes. We've made some adjustments to our operational procedures,” said Gilbertson.
He told ABC15 that despite last year’s issues, he believes the company and its system are ready.
That message was echoed by Thompson at the last ACC meeting in November, but the commission pushed a decision on the company’s expansion request to January 9.
Liberty told ABC15 they've bought new devices to help closely monitor pressures and are no longer using extra water from Goodyear.
But both the Litchfield city manager and mayor have raised concerns about the company’s expansion request. Mayor Schoaf even sent a letter to the ACC in late December asking the ACC to reject the request.
The major question many want answered is could this problem arise again this summer?
“Liberty is doing everything we can do to ensure that our customers do not experience the same experience they had last summer,” said Gilbertson.
But when ABC15 asked if they could guarantee adequate water pressure, they could not.
“No, there’s no guarantee,” said Gilbertson. "Liberty can't guarantee pressure. There's a myriad of reasons why pressure could drop, there could be a natural disaster [or] act of god. What I can tell you is that at normal operational procedures, Liberty is going to keep pressures above 55 psi at our booster locations.”
In October, Maricopa County sent Liberty a violation letter. The letter said a response must be received by late December. Liberty confirmed they responded on December 18, but the company would not give ABC15 a copy of their response.
ABC15 reached out to Commissioner Tovar’s office this week, has not received a response.
City leadership from Litchfield Park has confirmed they will be at the January 9 ACC meeting.
