Abstract: The increasingly frequent seasonal droughts in the Poyang Lake Basin have caused a series of ecological and environmental problems. One solution is to timely improve the humid conditions in the lake area through water level regulation measures. In order to determine the impact of regulation on the net water consumption of wetlands, this paper firstly defined the regulation scheme using three parameters: ‘regulation water level- start time- duration’ based on different wetting objectives. Then, the entire lake area was divided into different wet zones according to the water surface and different groundwater depths, and the corresponding wetland area and net water consumption changes were calculated for different zones. The regulation schemes included three controlled water levels (13, 11, and 15 m) for different humid years (average, dry, humid), three start times (from the 1st, 280 th, and 320 th day of each year), and three duration times (90, 40, and 40 days). The results showed that, compared with the unregulated background situation, net water consumption increments of wetlands in average, dry, and humid years under different schemes were 1.48-4.12, 1.49-3.04, and 1.46-3.15 ×108 m3, respectively. Although the water consumption increment was very low (0.10%-0.27%, 0.10%-0.20%, and 0.10%-0.21%) compared with the total wetland inflow (150 billion m3), they were significant compared to the current net inflow consumption of the wetland (2 billion m3), which was in the range of 7.42%-20.59%, 7.42%-15.17%, and 7.30%-15.73%. This study indicated that considering the changes in net water consumption was essential in proposing the proper ecological water level of Poyang Lake. Outcomes of this study provide technical support for a more rational water resource allocation.