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This paper takes the production of inequalities within the centralized water supply network ofÌý Lilongwe, Malawi, as a starting point to examine how Africa’s water infrastructures are shaping urbanÌý spaces and lives. First, by tracing the expansions of the distribution network and the strategic locationsÌý of service reservoirs over a period of 50 years, we examine the role of water infrastructure in co-shaping and mediating inequities in Lilongwe. Engaging with the technical intricacies of designingÌý water infrastructures, we argue, helps illuminating motivations and guiding principles of Lilongwe’sÌý development trajectory. Our analysis reveals how large water infrastructures (e.g. dams) wereÌý developed to improve continuity of supply of higher income residents, rather than to serve the growingÌý unserved urban population in informal settlements. Second, eschewing conceptualisations ofÌý infrastructure as fixed material artefacts, we then focus on infrastructures ‘in use’, showing howÌý operation and maintenance intersect with infrastructural configurations and contribute to produceÌý highly differentiated water supply across the city. We show how the prioritisation of certain areas andÌý consumers is rationalised through the idea of the so-called 'premium customer', a citizen who needsÌý and deserves more water than others. Last, we discuss how materials not only embody but also changeÌý social relations of power and remakes urban experiences, contributing to further our understanding ofÌý how inequities in access to water come about and endure. This paper thereby also serves as aÌý demonstration of how an interdisciplinary approach to the study of (water) infrastructures can serve toÌý further analyses of urbanism and water supplies.

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