This talk will present the main lines and research results published in the chapter “Sustainability and Governance in Lima’s water sector” (co-authored with Charlotte Halpern) to be published in the Lorrain,D. Halpern,C. Chevauché,C. “Villes Sobres”, Presses de Sciences-Po, Paris, 2016. This chapter will present the trajectory of the water sector in Lima and in particular the institutional framework that emerged as a result of conflictive institutional developments pertaining to the Peruvian capital. How to then develop and implement urban services modernization programs in the absence of unified institutional framework, political instability, conflicting social demands and environmental emergency? The example of the management of water resources in Lima, studied by the authors shows the limits set by the quest for sobriety in an unstable political and institutional context and the way that the adaptation to climate change is mobilized by the local actors to expand their operational capabilities