Liberty Utilities to add new attractions to area park!

 

Forsyth MO. - Canadian based Liberty Utilities is planning some fun new additions to their park located near Forsyth Missouri by the Powersite Dam. After seeing a drone image (above, supplied by Marcus McClamrock) I called the utility and talked to an employee named Junior. He informed me that the field with all the lines was going to contain three new areas;

1) A pickle ball playing field (see https://youtu.be/kqLRRNOpe8U). A game that is a cross between ping pong and tennis...

2) A one kilometer walking trail....

3) Special plants that will attract Monarch butterflies... 

To state that I was a bit awestruck would be to put it mildly. I'm looking forward to watching this project come to fruition over the coming months.

July 19 power outage!

It was about 8PM, or so, on Friday July the 19th when I noticed that the cable had died. No internet and no TV. Then, about five minutes later the power went also. So, there I was sitting in the dark on one of the hottest evening of the summer....wondering...

Apparently, something blew at the Powersite substation above the Powersite Dam (which was also not working at the time). And so, I went on to bed and lay there in the dark wondering when things would get back to 'normal'. About two hours later, the power did come back on as did my air conditioner, so I was able to get some sleep. But as I fell to sleep, my mind pondered the question of out power infrastructure and what sort of shape it was in. Were the problems sporadic and local or were they more widespread? Following is the response I received from Liberty Utilities after I inquired as to the cause of the outage;

From: Doreen Maynard
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 10:20 AM

Subject: Outage

Unfortunately we cannot promise service 24/7 but when we do experience an outage we respond as quickly and safely as possible. We did have and issue with a substation,  we can’t predict when this might happen however with the extremely high heat index we have experienced that may cause extra load on our equipment. With our lineman responding quickly and our customers conserving usage we will do our best to make sure outages are as infrequent as possible.

Thank you

Doreen Maynard | Liberty Utilities  (Missouri) | Customer Service Rep-Contact Center-Sr

VAT#123456
While I greatly appreciated the prompt response, I still could not help but be a little troubled. Was the power grid getting a bit old? Was it not able to keep up with the increased loads placed on it by a society that craves electrical devices? It was my sincere hope that Liberty Utilities, a Canadian owned power company, would stay on top of these questions.

Powersite Dam barrier broken and utility company seems clueless!

Forsyth MO. - On or about June the 28, Powersite Dam suffered a mechanical failure in a water blocking mechanism that normal projects up a few few allowing water to be withheld up to 702 feet or so. This insures that folks living along the Taneycomo waterway have water for their boats and docks to ride on. When it fails, the water is allowed to flow freely and so some dock owners awoke to find their stuff high and dry! Now it's been a couple of weeks and no repairs had yet been forthcoming.

I was also told that the Corps of Engineers were withholding water from Table Rock dam in an effort to get Taneycomo's level down far enough to replace what had broken. Powersite Dam, which is run by Liberty Utilities (formerly Empire), seemed clueless when a recent call to their Corporate office came up empty. No one seemed to know what the status of this repair effort was at! And, while they promised to call me back when they had an answer, I was left wondering just who is in charge concerning the Canadian owned enterprise... I'll post an update when I hear back from these folks.

Update: Monday, July 15, 2019 - I talked with a spokesperson from Liberty Utilities and was informed that the damage was to a pneumatic line that services the movable gates and that it will be inaccessible for repair until such time as the Bull Shoals water level drops to or below 675 feet msl. This morning Bull Shoals was at 687 feet.