While wellbeing researchers continue to address the theorization, conceptualization, and operationalization of the concept of “wellbeing”, health geographers are convinced it should be place-based. This paper outlines a proposed theoretical framework that facilitates the identification of contextual understandings of wellbeing in all its complexity that draws on political ecology. We led a multi-site case study in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, investigating the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in supporting communities facing inequities in access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). We conducted in-depth key-informant interviews with leaders of CSOs (n=7) and focus groups with residents of three communities (n=24) living in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas. We found that, beyond physical and psychosocial health, participants were concerned with the effects of WASH inequities in many other spheres of their lives, including emotional health, spirituality, equity, and social and environmental justice. By using WASH as a gateway into communities’ daily life and investigating wellbeing through the lens of political ecology, we uncovered contextual dimensions of wellbeing that extend beyond physical and psychosocial health. Framing wellbeing as the difference between expectations and reality, we learned that residents’ wellbeing was deeply affected by a shared notion of inequity and injustice clearly present in their experiences and worldviews. These findings create a pastiche of political ecology of health and wellbeing in place that could advance the sub-discipline of health geography.