Opinion | Infrastructure failures are unavoidable in New Orleans. They don’t have to be

By Alya Satchu

August 23, 2026

The Story

When New Orleans infrastructure fails, it is easy to focus on the immediate inconvenience: the flooded street, traffic or the water main break. It is harder to think about the system responsible for preventing those problems in the first place, and whether it works well enough.

BGR’s Role

The Bureau of Governmental Research has been pushing for changes to SWBNO’s governance for a while. In its research, BGR argued that the agency’s existing structure has added to its problems and has supported bringing the agency more directly into city government. But BGR has also emphasized that restructuring needs to be done with caution. In response to the legislation that expanded the City Council’s authority, BGR said bringing SWBNO into city government is feasible, but issues including bonds, civil service and pensions require careful planning.

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