水利糾紛是臺灣農村社會最常見到的紛爭，嚴重的水利糾紛不但引發械鬥，甚至造成社會的動亂。臺灣南部由於氣溫高、河川短促、水源缺乏，漢人大量來臺開墾後，水利灌溉一直是農業急待解決的問題，除了「開源」的水利開發外，「節流」 的分水輪灌是農民間存在已久的默契。水源充足的時候，水利糾紛較少，但遇缺水時節，爭水糾紛頗多。 清代臺灣南部最常發生的水利糾紛是爭水源、爭水份及埠圳興築為害墳墓等三種。時官府對於水利糾紛的處理，大都採取息事寧人的態度，如危及莊社、田園、墳廬，則會採取較嚴厲的立場。由於官府的態度被動，民間社會乃有規約來維持水利秩序。日治時期臺灣總督府強力介入水利運作，將舊有埠圳公共化，透過水利組織管理水利設施。然農民由於負擔較過去為重，且分水輪灌受制於米、糖競爭的制約，再加上水利紛爭掺入臺、日間複雜的民族問題，水利糾紛相形複雜，嘉南大圳被譏為「咬人大圳」。戰後，由於經過日治時期水利公共化及水利組織的確立，水利糾紛的產生大多圍繞在水費的抗爭和盜水兩個問題上，兩個問題水利單位都可以直接訴諸司法解決，但在權衡農民生計問題下，常以協調或寫悔過書來解決水利糾紛。

Disputes over water conservancy were prevalent in Taiwan’s agriculture society. Serious disputes over water conservancy not only resulted in fights with weapons but also caused social upheaval. There were several reasons he1ped to explain such disputes in southern Taiwan: high temperature, short and rapid rivers, lack of water sources. After the Han people came to Taiwan for rec1amation, the disposition of water - either for developing water sources, or rotating the water irrigation - was always a crucial issue that needed to be solved. Particularly when it came to the dry season, such kind of disputes were more frequent. There were three most common disputes over water conservancy in southern Taiwan under the rule of Qing dynasty: disputes over sources of water; disputes over shares of water; disputes over the damage of tombs due to the constructions of irrigations or channels. The local government was more passive than the civil society in dealing with the disputes; mostly the government tended to reconcile the disputes unless the disputes involved the danger of the village, the farmland, or the burial ground. The order of water conservancy was therefore maintained by the agreements made by the civil society. During the period of Japanese rule, the Government-general intervened water operations vigorously. It publicized the old channels or irrigations, and managed the water facilities through the organizations of water conservancy. However, the heavier pressures of farmers, the restriction of rotating irritation by the competition of rice and sugar, and the racial issue between Taiwanese and Japanese, all resulted in the complicated disputes over water conservancy. That was why Chia-nan Irrigation was mocked as “the Biting Irrigation.” After the Sino-Japanese War, disputes over water conservancy were mostly about the fights for water charges and the stealing of water due to the establishment of the publicization and organization of water conservancy. These two issues can be settled down by appealing to law, but usually they were solved either by conciliation or writing statements of penitence, since the economy of the farmers were not all affordable for them to go to court.