The geography of multiple scarcities: Urban development and water problems in Lima, Peru

► Urban water scarcity is synergistically related to other forms of scarcity. ► Multiple scarcities converge and form the totality of the experience of scarcity. ► Water scarcity in Lima follows the lack of housing and discriminatory urban growth. ► Recent government plans have produced ephemeral, fluid responses to water scarcity. ► The fragile basis of water supply contains the germ of new conflicts and scarcities.