Increasing concerns about the water-related impacts posed by shale gas development have prompted the need for protecting water resources. Determining the preferences for shale water management is critical for the design and implementation of cost-effective management strategies. Nevertheless, the public's multidimensional preferences for different aspects of the shale water management have not yet been addressed in shale-related studies. To this end, a choice experiment is used to examine the preference heterogeneity for shale water management that would improve water consumption, wastewater recycling, and water quality monitoring in Fuling shale gas field, southwest China. Results from a random parameter logit model show that residents' average WTP is 45.76 yuan per year per household for the improvements of all water-related attributes to the highest qualitative level. The accumulated welfare gains indicate that local government could increase the gas price by 0.058 yuan per cubic meter for implementing water management strategies. We also find considerable preference heterogeneity in both systematic and random utility components, and average WTP is significantly influenced by the respondent's demographical and psychological characteristics. The findings highlight the potential to find socially acceptable ways to promote shale water management and provide insight into the relevant policymaking process.