4 S&WB board members to be replaced as city gains more oversight

By Rachel Handley

Source: WWL

August 4, 2026

The Story

Thanks to a new state law, the City Council and mayor’s office now have much more power over the Sewerage & Water Board.

A newly enacted state law is shifting more oversight of the Sewerage and Water Board to the City of New Orleans. On Tuesday, officials announced major changes to one of the S&WB’s governing bodies.

In a video posted to Instagram Sunday, Mayor Helena Moreno expressed optimism about the takeover.

“Ultimately we get blamed for all the problems anyway, might as well have the authority to fix them as well,” she said. 

BGR’s Role

Rebecca Mowbray, president and CEO of the Bureau of Governmental Research, a local watchdog organization, said BGR has long argued that the S&WB’s leadership structure should be simplified.

“The oddball structure of the Sewerage and Water Board, in which there are a lot of people involved, but there really is no true oversight, really is the root cause of all of the dysfunction that we, as residents of New Orleans, experience on a regular basis,” she said. 

She said BGR would have preferred the city lay out a detailed plan for the transition of power before making any changes. But overall, she said she is pleased with the progress so far. 

“There is a transition period during which accountability may be unclear or in question, and you know, let’s hope that we don’t get a major storm during hurricane season. But that said, I do think that everybody’s got their eyes open, and they seem to be working toward the right things,” she said.

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