A customer of Liberty Utilities reported her water meter was malfunctioning Thursday and her calls to the utility were not immediately met according to her expectations.
Pine Bluff resident Shawnda Hinton contacted the Pine Bluff Commercial to share her concerns regarding the broken device that was causing water to flood into her yard and neighbors’ yards. Hinton said she had already called Liberty Utilities a total of six times from Wednesday around 5 p..m through Thursday around 2:15 p.m. to report an emergency but no one had yet responded.
She said she was worried about having to pay for the excessive water that leaked and that she was upset with the response time. She said a Liberty Utilities employee informed her that her situation did not constitute an emergency.
“I was told that this is not an emergency and they will send someone out first thing in the morning [Thursday],” Hinton said around 2:20 p.m. Thursday. “There is no way I would be able to afford this.”
Liberty Utilities executive director Pete Lucas explained that Hinton’s meter box had a leak. She called Wednesday after the utility had closed for the day and reported that she did not have damage to the property. Lucas defended the actions of his employees.
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“We do not go out unless there is a bad leak causing property damage and the resident has lost [water] service,” Lucas said.
A Liberty Utilities crew of four employees responded on Thursday around 2:30 p.m. and repaired the equipment.
“We went out the next day,” Lucas said. “When there is no property damage, you have water service, we do not respond after hours. That is our procedure. We do not respond to every one after hours. We respond the next day during business hours.”
Lucas said that Hinton will not be charged for the water that spilled due to the broken equipment.
“I went out to her house [Friday] morning,” Lucas said. “The water did not reach her house.”
Lucas acknowledged Hinton’s concerns regarding the response time. Lucas said he would call her.
“We have other work being done on the system,” Lucas said. “We are trying to get to the customers who need attention the most. She still had water service.”
A mother of three children, Hinton lost her job at a Big Red gas station in April. As a result, she said she is saving money by curtailing her water use by bathing her children together.
“I cannot let my children outside,” Hinton said. “A child can drown in up to three inches of water. … I can’t wait an extra day to pay my bill, but [Liberty Utilities] charges me if I am late. Why can’t I get the same courtesy of having prompt service?”
Lucas said Hinton’s water meter was installed in August 2016, although the newness of the equipment did not cause the leak.