Abstract: Water use quotas,such as those for irrigation and industrial water use,can not be simply used to appraise the rationality of water use in a region because different regions cultivate different crops with different water requirement,and different industrials require different water use quotas. Furthermore,regions with higher water stress may host water-intensive-industrials such as coal mining and electricity generation because of the location of coal reserve. So it's not fair to suggest that regions with higher water stress have higher water use efficiency. Generally,water use rationality should be appraised by indicator system under three equally important criteria:sustainability,justice and efficiency.