The first poster introduces a historical and multi-scale analysis. Such a perspective offers the possibility to explain how the competitive logic of EPM and its rapid insertion into the global market has legitimized particular forms of circulating water through the city with outcomes that are detrimental for low-income households.

The second poster illustrates how the monopoly in all basic public services by EPM facilitates particular forms of controlling the city. The circulation of water as a commodity combined with the already existing conditions of inequality reflected in the socio-economic stratification of the city (Strata 1 poorest and Strata 6 richest) provide a suitable ground for reinforcing inequalities in access to water.

The third poster analyses different informal practices deployed by disconnected households to secure access to water on an everyday basis. To capture this complexity the project classifies desconectados in three groups according to the nature and length of disconnection: suspended (non-payment of 2 to 7 bills), cut off (non-payment of more than 7 bills) and unserved (excluded from the formal water network because of illegal land tenure status).

The fourth poster illustrates the struggle of Don Mario and his family to secure access to water even though they are entitled with this fundamental right. Additionally, it portraits how prepaid meters are presented as the “only viable solution” to reduce water inequalities while being deployed as a tool to re-educate low-income households into a “culture of payment”.