This paper is a socio-spatial analysis of the water supply system in the Mexican city of Tijuana, which in the last decades has faced a high rate of growth that in turn has placed a great deal of pressure on the supply of water. Moreover, over the past 5 years the region has experienced one of the most severe droughts in its history, forcing us to rethink its impact on water management at the local level and to analyze the related theme of water access rights. Therefore, we analyze the mechanisms of institutional water supply and other alternatives used by informal settlements in the city. A comparison of the costs paid by the common user with those paid by users with supply problems revealed that the latter pays a price eight times higher....