DFT approximations encounter difficulties when describing condensed water due to the intricate nature of concurrent competing interactions that are involved in covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals (vdW) forces. Hydrogen bonds, though one order of magnitude weaker than intramolecular O-H covalent bonds, remain locally strong and directionally attractive. Another order of magnitude weaker, vdW dispersion forces play a nonnegligible role at larger distances, with an attractive and isotropic character. The interplay between varying interaction strengths, length scales, and directionalities makes water a highly sensitive test system for the design and assessment of XC functionals. Indeed, even slight imprecision in the XC description is likely to disrupt the complex balance of interactions, ultimately impacting the H-bond network that is responsible for many of water's properties .