This paper explores potential contributions to case studies on water issues that can be made applying the “hydro-social” approach, to explain the complexity of human interactions connected with water uses in territories undergoing constant transformation. The key questions addressed are: why including the hydro-social approach in the analysis of water problems? And, what are the contributions that this approach can make to enhance our understanding of the processes taking place in territories where natural resources are being disputed? The text closes with a discussion of a range of possibilities for holistic research that considers the technical, social, economic, legal and political aspects in studies about territories and the water cycle from the “hydro-social” perspective.