And it’s not clear which authorities will manage the resource, both in reservoirs and stored in underground aquifers. “Feuds over water ownership penetrate nearly every step of planning, construction, operation, and even the scientific research process,” says Chen Xiqing, a hydrologist at Hohai University in Nanjing. “A key problem,” he says, is that China “lacks a legal framework to coordinate conflicts between the central and local governments and between different regions.” Shandong and Jiangsu provinces are embroiled in a fight over water rights, sources say.