The paper argues that in order to understand capitalist water appropriation in its diverse manifestations, its necessary to consider all of them as moments of the production of value, a socially constructed dimension that organizes metabolism between human beings and nature in a class struggle dynamics. Based on Marx, it proposes an interpretation of water issues from the perspective of the ontology of social being, discussing the historical and conceptual construction of consensus around the hegemonic conception of water as an economic good, and analyzing their implications for water management and access. One of its findings argues that the appropriation of water is approached in a fragmented and non-articulated way. On the other hand, in social struggles in defense of threatened livelihoods, conceptions that oppose the water consensus and the capitalist social value emerge, pointing towards a universal conception of water as a common good.
Water; Capital; Nature; Class Struggles; Common Good