Hydroterritorial Configuration and Confrontation: The Daule-Peripa Multipurpose Hydraulic Scheme in Coastal Ecuador

There is a forceful new impetus toward mega-hydraulic projects in Latin America, which are booming but also highly controversial. They bring benefits to some social groups while many others negatively affected. Technocratic discourses dominant the region; they strategically mobilize institutions, infrastructure, money, and knowledge present particular hydrosocial territorial imaginaries—such as multipurpose dams—as natural, universal, politically neutral. Meanwhile, affected local communities commonly envision practice different discourses, values, worldviews, based on contextualized notions of well-being territoriality. Using political ecology perspective, this article examines how Daule-Peripa scheme—Ecuador’s “hydraulic heart”—has de- repatterned territory, producing hierarchical relations unequal distribution socioenvironmental impacts. Though have changed throughout state-centralist neoliberal époques, governmental policies practices continued renewed their defense mega-hydraulism. In turn, families, through everyday politics, respond aim rearrange network order regain control over water, land, services.