Challenges regarding access to water in rural and peri-urban territories in Latin America: situated experiences and lessons learned in the face of water scarcity

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17561/at.30.9473

Keywords:

Access to water, Water scarcity, Water justice, Rurality, Peri-urban territories

Abstract

This dossier examines the strategies and challenges of water access in rural and peri-urban areas of Latin America in contexts of water scarcity. Through various contributions, it explores heterogeneous supply methods, water governance influences, socio-environmental conflicts, and socio-technical innovations developed by communities. The central role of women in water management is highlighted, as well as the importance of solidarity and self-management in overcoming limitations imposed by the lack of formal access. Additionally, it reflects on the relationship between access, water justice, and tensions arising from the urban-rural dichotomy. This collection of studies provides insight into how territorial and productive transformations, power relations, and public policies shape unequal water landscapes in the region.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Acevedo Guerrero, Tatiana; Bossenbroek, Lisa; Leonardelli, Irene; Zwarteveen, Margreet; Kulkarni, Seema. 2025: Routledge Handbook of Gender and Water Governance. London (United Kingdom), Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003100379

Ahlers, Rhodante; Cleaver, Frances; Rusca, Maria; Schwartz, Klaas. 2014: Informal Space in the Urban Waterscape: Disaggregation and Co-Production of Water Services. Water Alternatives, 7(1), 1-14. https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/volume7/v7issue1/230-a7-1-1/file

Allen Adriana, Dávila D. Julio; Hofmann, Pascale. 2005: Goberna¬bilidad y acceso al agua y saneamiento en la interfaz periurbana: análisis preliminar de cinco estudios de caso. Cuadernos del Cendes, 22(59), 23-44. https://doi.org/10.16924/revinge.22.10

Anand, Nikhil. 2017: Hydraulic City: Water and the Infrastructures of Citizenship in Mumbai. Durham (United Kingdom), Duke University Press.

Azpiazu, Daniel; Catenazzi, Andrea; Forcinito, Karina. 2004: Recursos públicos, negocios privados. Agua potable y saneamiento ambiental en el AMBA. Los Polvorines (Argentina), Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento.

Babidge, Sally; Bolados, Paola. 2018: Neoextractivism and Indigenous Water Ritual in Salar de Atacama, Chile. Latin American Perspectives, 45(5), 170-185. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X18782673

Bakker, Karen. 2003: An Uncooperative Commodity: Privatizing Water in England and Wales. Oxford (United Kingdom), Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199253654.001.0001

Barbier, Rémi; Riaux, Jeanne; Barreteau, Olivier. 2010: Science réglementaire et démocratie technique: Réflexion à partir de la gestion des pénuries d’eau. Natures Sciences Sociétés 18(1), 14-23. https://doi.org/10.1051/nss/2010004

Barría, Pilar; Chadwick, Cristian; Ocampo-Melgar, Anahi; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Garreaud, René; Díaz-Vasconcellos, Raúl; Poblete, David; Rubio-Álvarez, Eduardo; Poblete-Caballero, Dagoberto. 2021: Water management or megadrought: What caused the Chilean Aculeo Lake drying? Regional Environmental Change, 21(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-021-01750-w

Boelens, Rutgerd. 2015: Water, power and identity: The cultural politics of water in the Andes. London (United Kingdom), Routledge.

Buchs, Arnaud. 2016: La pénurie en eau est-elle inéluctable?: une approche institutionnaliste de l’évolution du mode d’usage de l’eau en Espagne et au Maroc. Bruxelles (Belgium), P.I.E. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0352-6593-4

Budds, Jessica. 2013: Water, power, and the production of neoliberalism in Chile, 1973-2005. Environment and Planning, 31(2), 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1068/d9511

Cabrera, Juan. 2018: Fragmentación urbana por medio de redes de agua: el caso de Cochabamba, Bolivia. Territorios, 39, 203-224. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/territorios/a.6313

Caceres, Daniel Mario; Rodriguez Bilella, Pablo. 2014: Acceso y apropiación del agua en comunidades rurales pobres de Argentina central: Transformaciones y conflictos. Economía, Sociedad y Territorio, 14(45), 359-395. https://doi.org/10.22136/est002014379

Cantillana Barañados, Raphael. 2018: Conflictos por el agua en sus dimensiones sociales y culturales: Política de Estado y gestión comunitaria en Tarapacá, Chile. Estudios Socioterritoriales, 23, 27-43. https://ojs2.fch.unicen.edu.ar/ojs-3.1.0/index.php/estudios-socioterritoriales/article/view/120

Castro, Esteban. 2007: La privatización de los servicios de agua y saneamiento en América Latina. Nueva Sociedad, 207, 93-112. https://static.nuso.org/media/articles/downloads/3408_1.pdf

Cawood, Sally; Wahby, Noura; Ferrara, Luciana. 2022: Hybridity in Practice: Responding to Water Insecurity in São Paulo, Dhaka, and Cairo. Water Alternatives, 15(3), 21. https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol15/v15issue3/679-a15-3-8/file

Coutard, Olivier; Rutherford, Jonathan. 2016: Beyond the Networked City. Infrastructure reconfigurations and urban change in the North and South. London (United Kingdom), Routledge.

Damkjaer, Simon; Taylor, Richard. 2017: The Measurement of Water Scarcity: Defining a Meaningful Indicator. Ambio 46(5), 513-531. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0912-z

Damonte, Gerardo; Gonzales, Isabel; Lahud, Julieta. 2016: La construcción del poder hídrico: agroexportadores y escasez de agua subterránea en el valle de Ica y las pampas de Villacurí. Anthropologica, 34(37), 87-114. https://doi.org/10.18800/anthropologica.201602.004

Delgado, Luisa; De Ríos, Romina; Perevochtchikova, María; Marín, Ignacio; Fuster, Rodrigo; Marín, Víctor. 2021: Water governance in rural communities of Chiloé Island, southern Chile: A multi-level analysis. Journal of Rural Studies, 83, 236-245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.11.008

Dell’Angelo, Jampel; Rulli, María Cristina; D’Odorico, Paolo. 2018: The Global Water Grabbing Syndrome. Ecological Economics, 143, 276-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.06.033

Fragkou, María Christina; Monsalve-Tapia, Tamara; Pereira-Roa, Vicente; Bolados-Arratia, Maximiliano. 2022: Abastecimiento de agua potable por camiones aljibe durante la megasequía. Un análisis hidrosocial de la provincia de Petorca, Chile. EURE - Revista de Estudios Urbano Regionales, 48(145). https://doi.org/10.7764/eure.48.145.04

Fragkou, Maria; Dias Tadeu, Natalia; Empinotti, Vanessa; Fuster, Rodrigo; Oré, Maria Teresa; Rojas, Facundo; Urquiza, Anahí; Wagner, Lucrecia. 2023: Water scarcity in Latin America. In: Bustos, Beatriz; Engel Di-Mauro, Salvatore; García López, Gustavo; Ojeda, Diana (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Latin America and the Environment. London (United Kingdom), Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429344428

Furlong, Kathryn. 2014: STS beyond the “modern infrastructure ideal”: Extending theory by engaging with infrastructure challenges in the South. Technology in Society, 38, 139-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2014.04.001

Fuster, Rodrigo; Donoso, Guillermo. 2018: Rural Water Management. In Donoso, Guillermo (Ed.), Water Policy in Chile. Suiza, Springer International Publishing, 151-163. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76702-4_10

Graham, Stephen; Marvin, Simon. 2001: Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition. London (United Kingdom), Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203452202

Guibert, Martine; Gisclard, Marie; Denoël, Mathilde; Baptista, Pedro; Lopez Galvis, Andrès; Villágomez Velázquez, Yanga. 2020: Les notions de rural, de ruralité et le développement rural en contextes latino-américains. In Pouzenc, Michaël; Charlery, Bernard (Dir.), Etudier les ruralités contemporaines. Toulouse (France), PUM, 47-56.

Harris, Leila. 2019: Assessing states: Water service delivery and evolving state-society relations in Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 38(2), 290-311. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654419859365

Hernández Vidal, Nathalia; Merlinsky, Gabriela; Bolados, Paola. 2023: Defending the Commons: New Frontiers in Latin American Perspectives on Environmental Justice. Sociological Inquiry, 93, 370-391. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12525

Herrera Lima, Susana, Gutiérrez, Ricardo; Bohne, Sofía Mendoza (Eds.). 2025: Water-Handbook of the Anthropocene in Latin America IV. Bielefeld (Germany), Bielefeld University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839470145

Hines, Sarah. 2024: Agua para todos. Comunidad, propiedad y revolución en la Bolivia moderna. La Paz (Bolivia), Plural.

Hossain, Khandker; Ahmed, Shafiul. 2014: Non-conventional public-private partnerships for water supply to urban slums. Urban Water Journal, 12, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2014.923473

Jaglin, Sylvie. 2014: Regulating service delivery in southern cities: Rethinking urban heterogeneity. In Parnell, Susan; Oldfield, Sophie (Eds.), Handbook of Cities in the Global South. London (United Kingdom), Routledge, 434-448.

Kaika, Maria. 2003: Constructing Scarcity and Sensationalising Water Politics: 170 Days That Shook Athens. Antipode, 35(5), 919-954. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2003.00365.x

Kooy, Michelle. 2014: Developing informality: The production of Jakarta’s urban waterscape. Water Alternatives, 7(1), 35-53. https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/volume7/v7issue1/232-a7-1-3/file

Lavie, Emilie; Marshall, Anaïs. 2019: Avant-postes et résistances à l’universalisation d’un modèle urbain de service public en zone rurale: le cas de l’accès à l’eau potable en périphérie de Mendoza (Argentine). Annales de géographie, 725(1), 5-30. https://doi.org/10.3917/ag.725.0005

Lawhon, Mary; Nilsson, David; Silver, Jonathan; Ernstson, Henrik; Lwasa, Shuaib. 2018: Thinking through heterogeneous infrastructure configurations. Urban Studies, 55(4), 720-732. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017720149

Linsalata, Lucía. 2014: Cuando manda la asamblea: lo comunitario popular en Bolivia. Ciudad de México (México), Universidad Na¬cional Autónoma de México.

Lukas, Michael; Fragkou, María Christina; Vásquez, Alexis. 2020: Hacia una ecología política de las nuevas periferias urbanas: Suelo, agua y poder en Santiago de Chile. Revista de geografía Norte Grande, 76, 95-119. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34022020000200095

Manzanal, Mabel; Arzeno, Mariana. 2010: Conflictos territoriales en ámbitos rurales de la Argentina actual. GEOUSP - Espaço e Tempo, 28, 197-218. https://doi:10.11606/issn.2179-0892.geousp.2010.74180

Marchand, Amaël. 2020: Coproduire une gestion écologique de l’eau: échanges entre universitaires et habitants en périphérie de Mexico. Espaces et sociétés, 188(1), 113-128. https://doi.org/10.3917/esp.188.0113

Martin, Facundo; Larsimont, Robin. 2016: Agua, poder y desigualdad socioespacial. Un nuevo ciclo hidrosocial en Mendoza, Argentina (1990-2015), en Merlinsky, Gabriela (Ed.), Cartografía del conflicto ambiental en Argentina II. Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), CICCUS-CLACSO, 31-56. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvt6rkxj.5

Mehta, Lyla. 2005: The Politics and Poetics of Water: Naturalising Scarcity in Western India. New Delhi (India), Orient Longman.

Merlinsky, Gabriela. 2013: Política, derechos y justicia ambiental. El conflicto del Riachuelo. Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Merlinsky, Gabriela; Martín, Facundo; Tobías, Melina. 2020: Presentación del Dossier #13: Hacia la conformación de una Ecología Política del Agua en América Latina. Enfoques y agendas de investigación”. Quid 16, 13, 1-11. https://publicaciones.sociales.uba.ar/index.php/quid16/article/view/5450/pdf

Micheletti, Stefano; Saravia Cortés, Felipe; Troncoso, Francisco Letelier. 2019: Los contenidos del habitar urbano: prácticas, movilidad e identidades en las ciudades intermedias del Maule, Chile. Cuaderno urbano. 27(27), 111-134. https://doi.org/10.30972/crn.27274121

Millington, Nate. 2018: Producing water scarcity in São Paulo, Brazil: The 2014-2015 water crisis and the binding politics of infrastructure. Political Geography, 65, 26-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.04.007

Molinos-Senante, María; Muñoz, Sebastian; Chamorro, Alondra. 2019: Assessing the quality of service for drinking water supplies in rural settings: A synthetic index approach. Journal of Environ¬mental Management, 247, 613-623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.06.112

Molle, François; Venot, Jean-Philippe; Lannerstad, Mats; Hoogesteger, Jaime. 2009: Villains or Heroes? Farmers’ Adjustments to Water Scarcity. Irrigation and Drainage, 59(4), 419-431. https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.500

Montaña, Elma. 2008: Las disputas territoriales de una sociedad hídrica. Conflictos en torno al agua en Mendoza, Argentina. Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, 9, 1-17. http://www.redibec.org/IVO/rev9_01.pdf

Nelson-Nuñez, Jami; Walters, Jeffrey; Charpentier, Denisse. 2019: Exploring the challenges to sustainable rural drinking water services in Chile. Water Policy, 21(6), 1251-1265. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2019.120

Nicolas-Artero, Chloe. 2020: Les tactiques géolégales des organisations d’usagers locales contre l’appropriation de l’eau par les secteurs extractifs au Chili. Annales de géographie, 735, 55-80. https://doi.org/10.3917/ag.735.0055

Nicolas-Artero, Chloe; Velut, Sebastien; Schneier-Madanes, Graciela; Poupeau, Franck; Chavarochette, Carine (Éds.). 2022: Luttes pour l’eau dans les Amériques. Paris (France), Éditions de l’IHEAL. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.iheal.9702

Otero Ortega, Alfredo; Llop Torne, Josep. 2020: La ciudad interme¬dia: crecimiento y dinámicas de desarrollo. Territorios, 43, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/territorios/n.trt.vi43-Esp

Penagos, Angela. 2019: Desigualdades y ruralidades en América latina y el Caribe. In Guibert, Martine; Sabourin, Eric. Ressources, inégalités et développement des territoires ruraux en Amérique latine, dans la Caraïbe et en Europe. https://agritrop.cirad.fr/595911/1/ouvrage%20territoires%20ruraux%20ALC%20%26%20UE%20Colloque_2019%20IdA.pdf

Pérez-Hernández Carmela; Llanos Hernández, Luis; García- García, Antonino; Palacios Rangel, María Isabel. 2024: La gobernanza en la gestión comunitaria del agua en Zinacantán, Chiapas, México. Sociedad y Ambiente, 27, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.31840/sya.v2024i27.2880

Pierobon, Camila. 2021: Fazer a água circular: tempo e rotina na batalha pela habitação. Mana, 27(2). https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-49442021v27n2a203

Poupeau, Franck; O’Neill, Brian; Cortinas Muñoz, Joan; Coeurdray, Murielle; Benites-Gambirazio, Eliza. 2020: The Field of Water Policy: Power and Scarcity in the American Southwest. London (United Kingdom), Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429201394

Poupeau, Franck; Razafilahela, Lala; Robert, Jérémy; Mercier, Delphine; Massardier, Gilles; Jacobi, Pedro (dir.). 2018: Water conflicts and hydrocracy in the Americas. Coalitions, networks, policies. São Paulo (Brazil), Universidade de São Paulo.

Prieto, Manuel. 2015: Privatizing Water in the Chilean Andes: The Case of Las Vegas de Chiu-Chiu. Mountain Research and Development, 35(3), 220-229. https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOUR¬NAL-D-14-00033.1

Salinas; Becker. 2022: Guardianas del Agua. (In)seguridad hídrica en la vida cotidiana de las mujeres. Santiago de Chile (Chile), Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

Schmidt, Mariana; Castilla, Malena. 2022: “El Bermejo, pasa por los campos de la empresa que fumigó y nosotros no tenemos ni una canilla”: La región chaqueña como territorio hidrosocial. Revista Uruguaya de Antropología y Etnografía, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.29112/ruae.v7i2.1646

Schmidt, Mariana; Tobías, Melina; Merlinsky, María Gabriela; Toledo López, Virginia. 2022: Conflictos por el agua y el uso de agroquímicos en Salta y Santiago del Estero, Argentina: un análisis desde la ecología política. Agua y Territorio / Water and Landscape, 21, 85-102. https://doi.org/10.17561/at.21.5889

Schmidt, Mariana; Tobías, Melina. 2021: Infraestructuras de agua potable y desigualdades hídricas en áreas periurbanas y rurales del Chaco Salteño, Argentina. Estudios Rurales, 11(24). https://doi.org/10.48160/22504001er24.163

Sultana, Farhana. 2020: Embodied intersectionalities of urban citizenship: Water, infrastructure, and gender in the Global South. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110(5), 1407-1424. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1715193

Sultana, Farhana; Loftus, Alex. 2012: The Right to Water: Politics, Governance and Social Struggles. Abingdon (United Kingdom), Earthscan.

Swyngedouw, Eric. 2004: Social Power and the Urbanization of Water: Flows of Power. Oxford (United Kingdom), Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198233916.01.0001

Tobías, Melina. 2021: Agua e Infraestructura en el Gran Buenos Aires. Entre experiencias descentralizadas y formas autogestivas de prestación. In Zunino Singh, Dhan; Gruschetsky, Valeria; Piglia, Melina (Coords.), Las infraestructuras en América Latina. Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Ed. Teseo.

Tobías, Melina; Fernández, Victor. 2019: La circulación del agua en Buenos Aires: Resonancias geográficas y desigualdades socio-espaciales en el acceso al servicio. Cuadernos de Geografía: Revista Colombiana de Geografía, 28(2), 423-441. https://doi.org/10.15446/rcdg.v28n2.73528

Velut, Sébastien. 2022: L’Amérique latine. Paris (France), Armand Colin.

Zamora, Elias; Acosta, Rufino. 2011: Discursos y conflictos en la gestión de los recursos hídricos: agricultores, ambientalismo y sostenibilidad. Una aportación desde la antropología social para la gobernanza del agua. Revista de Antropología Social, 20, 137-170. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_RASO.2011.v20.36265

Zaragocin, Sofia; Caretta, Martina. 2021: Cuerpo-Territorio: A Decolonial Feminist Geographical Method for the Study of Embodiment. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 111(5), 1503-1518. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1812370

Published

2026-04-10

How to Cite

Nicolas-Artero, C., Tobías, M. A. ., Schmidt, M., & Pérez Mercado, M. (2026). Challenges regarding access to water in rural and peri-urban territories in Latin America: situated experiences and lessons learned in the face of water scarcity. Agua Y Territorio Water and Landscape, 30, 7-18. https://doi.org/10.17561/at.30.9473