Building Trust Through Communication and Engagement

The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) is committed to delivering reliable, transparent and responsive services to the residents of New Orleans. Through its strategic communications initiatives, SWBNO is rebuilding trust, enhancing the customer experience and helping the community stay informed and engaged in shaping the future of water, stormwater and wastewater services.

Our strategic communications practitioners were hired under a five-year agreement to serve as an extension of the SWBNO’s communications department to provide both internal and external communications support.  

We were entrusted with sensitive duties like crisis communications, media strategy, governing body relations and communications protocol creation. These communication efforts addressed challenges such as aging infrastructure, affordability concerns and service reliability, while promoting a culture of accountability and public partnership.

Rate Workshops: Engaging Stakeholders Through Gamified CIP Planning

To build understanding and support for a proposed rate change, we collaborated with utility staff and board members to reimagine how Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) priorities were communicated. This resulted in a hands-on, gamified experience that sparked meaningful dialogue and built consensus among residents. 

Using a large tabletop board and Mardi Gras-style doubloons — colorful coins symbolic of New Orleans — participants were invited to allocate six "dollars" across various CIP priorities. Each priority was categorized by relative cost and tied to tangible outcomes such as system reliability, water quality and community well-being. Working in small groups, stakeholders reached consensus on how to invest their coins. This interactive format encouraged thoughtful conversations about trade-offs, values and long-term impacts. Notably, most groups concluded they would support a $6 monthly rate increase to fund the improvements, recognizing the value these investments would deliver. 

By the end of the sessions, participants had a clear understanding of the utility's strategic direction, the competing priorities that require increased revenue and the rationale behind SWBNO's CIP. 

Smart Metering: Modernizing Water Service for New Orleans

In a more noticeable action, SWBNO rolled out a citywide Smart Metering Program to replace outdated manual-read water meters with advanced smart meters. These new meters automatically record water use with high accuracy, virtually eliminating estimated bills and billing errors. These meters also detect leaks in real-time and alert customers, providing 24/7 access to usage data through a new online portal.

We were responsible for clearly communicating the meter installation process to customers and empowering contractors with multilingual communication materials to minimize complaints/issues in the field. It was important to educate customers on the benefits of the smart meters while also being transparent about the likelihood of bill increases, due to the inaccuracies of the previous meters. HDR also created materials to explain how a customer's water use directly translates to the charges on their bill, providing context for the value of water.  

By 2026, over 140,000 smart meters will be installed, with 128,000 already installed by summer 2025. A Smart Metering Program page on SWBNO’s website also features a near-real-time dashboard that tracks completed and upcoming meter upgrades. SWBNO's new smart meters, HDR's supporting communication efforts and the customer portal we helped launch are empowering customers and giving them the tools to better manage their water use and, ultimately, their bill.