ABSTRACT The distribution of water resources determines the pattern of economic development, making the strategic layout of China's water resources crucial. Scientific allocation of water resources is essential. This study focuses on the water-receiving area of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in Henan Province, addressing issues related to water resource scheduling and allocation. By constructing evaluation models based on the Gini coefficient and relational degree, the study evaluates the development levels of three matching relationships in Henan's waterreceiving area. Subsequently, through kernel density estimation, centroid, and standard deviation ellipse models, the study reveals the microstructure, central trends, and dispersion characteristics of water resource distribution. The results indicate: (1) There is a correlation between the algorithms of the Gini coefficient and relational degree. The overall spatial equilibrium of the three matching relationships differs. (2) The spatial equilibrium within the same subregion varies across different matching relationships. (3) The total water resources in the South-to-North Water Diversion area of Henan Province have steadily increased, with rapid development across regions and narrowing disparities among cities. The centroid is located in Xuchang City, and the directional characteristics of total water resources are becoming less pronounced.
Li et al. (2025) studied this question.