“We asked people for their preferences about water security packages and relative bill impacts, combined with what they supported across the seven portfolios,” Hogue says. 

“Ethelo helped people trade-off levels of investment as well as program and project objectives. So they understood how choosing one option over another impacted the program more widely. It gives a clear picture, and we could have more certainty that the information we were getting was a true reflection of their views because they were really well informed.”

She adds that Ethelo was one part of a mixed-method approach her team used. The trends found in the Ethelo data were similar to outcomes from the previous work, giving her team confidence that they fully understood the community’s views. 

“You can have more information in Ethelo than in any other program I’ve seen. So you can feel your respondents are well informed when they participate,” she adds. 

Hogue notes that the Ethelo team went the extra mile to set up the engagement and ensure everything ran smoothly. 

“It was complex—we made lots of changes and had many different discussions about ways to approach it,” she says. “Everyone at Ethelo was really responsive and amenable.” 

Building a better plan with lower cost

The Hunter Water team is using the data on community perspectives they got from Ethelo to inform their ongoing water security planning work. 

Hogue says that the solid understanding of community priorities they got from Ethelo will ultimately help make a better plan that the community can wholeheartedly support. 

“We can build and develop our plan with a good understanding of the community’s priorities,” she says. “It’ll only make the plan better, and when we have it finalized and put it out on public exhibition, we can say, ‘We really did listen, and this is how we’ve incorporated your views.’” 

What’s more, Hogue says doing online engagement with Ethelo saved Hunter Water money compared to the in-person engagements this kind of consultation would otherwise have required. 

“Ethelo offered a way to get a lot of detailed information out there and get feedback in an online environment, which was a lot less expensive than it would have been to do it face-to-face.”