The purpose of this essay is to present a framework for the understanding of water problems based on a theoretical proposal that serves as an introductory guide for those who approach the social studies of water in urban contexts. It starts from the assumption that analyzing the complexity and opacity of the ur- ban hydrosocial cycle implies developing an exercise in de-blackboxing. This first approach, inspired by Bru- no Latour's actor-network theory (ant), is articulated in this work based on the discussion of the concept of the hydrosocial cycle.