A normal weekday in New Orleans can quickly turn unsettling because of something most cities take for granted: water.
A street collapses and water rushes into homes and cars. Businesses and schools close early and parents scramble to pick up their kids. Restaurants dump ice and bottled water disappears from store shelves. Private citizens bear the costs of public failures.
I’m writing this in late March 2026, on the heels of six water main breaks this year, four severe enough to cause boil-water advisories. You’re reading this in May and hopefully preparing for hurricane season next month. New Orleanians have learned to stock water for storms, but we’re increasingly doing it for infrastructure failures as well.
After devastating floods in August 2017, the city realized just how vulnerable its drainage system had become. Since then, heavier, more frequent storms have exposed the cost of deferred maintenance and underinvestment, threatening lives, property and the city’s economic future.
Now we’re confronting a parallel crisis in our drinking water system. We’ve long known that more than half of the drinking water produced by the Sewerage and Water Board is lost before it reaches homes. What’s becoming impossible to ignore is how water mains well beyond their intended lifespans are failing, flooding streets in ways that resemble extreme rainfall and repeatedly disrupting residents, visitors and businesses.
These are predictable outcomes for a system that is not designed for accountability or sustainability. A flawed structure will always produce flawed results.
The causes are complex, but we understand them. Rates and taxes have not kept up with inflation or infrastructure needs for decades, and a shrinking population has lowered the number of people paying into the system. Elected officials have faced understandable pressure to protect constituents from higher bills but little accountability for failing to properly fund the system. The result has been chronic underfunding and costs that land on the next generation.
The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans is responsible for infrastructure that underpins public health, public safety and economic stability, yet its governance structure guarantees misalignment. The utility manages operations, while the City Council controls rates and taxes. State law dictates how the system works, even though many legislators have little connection to local realities. When responsibilities are divided and accountability is murky, short-term pressure wins over long-term planning and we all lose.
The good news is that New Orleans is not stuck. BGR’s research has shown that the path forward requires directly confronting governance and funding problems rather than managing around them. Whether the city reforms the existing utility or ultimately replaces it with a municipal one, the principles should be nonnegotiable. There must be:
• Clear oversight with defined roles;
• Funding proposals that move through fair, transparent processes grounded in data and expert analysis;
• Longterm capital planning that reflects real costs and tradeoffs; and
• Public reporting that shows how money is being spent and whether it’s producing results.
The City Council has already taken steps to strengthen its Utilities Regulatory Office. With clearer authority and better processes and staffing, it could support council oversight that relies on analysis and accountability rather than the blunt tool of withholding funds. At the same time, the state can enable reform by giving city leaders more direct control.
We are at a breaking point. In 2017, we learned that our drainage system could leave us underwater. In 2026, we’re reminded that even our drinking water system can drown us. That combination is unacceptable for a city looking to welcome more visitors and encourage new businesses to open and young people to stay.
Crises like this should sharpen our focus. As business leaders and residents, we should be asking the same questions of our elected officials every chance we get: Who is responsible? How can this system be funded sustainably? What oversight will ensure our investment fixes the problems?
And then we should hold them responsible for doing something.
Silence has a cost, as does accepting the status quo.
Reliable water and drainage are the foundation of a functioning city and a competitive economy. New Orleans needs leaders who are ready to go beyond the next break and fix the system itself.
Rebecca Mowbray is the president and CEO of the Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) a private, nonprofit, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy making and the effective use of public resources for the improvement of government in the New Orleans metropolitan area. She may be reached via email at rmowbray@bgr.org.
