Abstract: This study explored the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of total water consumption, water use structure, and water use efficiency in Jiangxi Province and its 11 cities.The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of water resource carrying capacity was studied to provide a scientific basis for regional water resource management and sustainable utilization.The data of water resources, industrial water use, socioeconomic factors, and ecological replenishment were collected.The Theil coefficient was used to analyze regional distribution differences in water resource development and utilization.The information entropy was used to assess the rationality of water use structure, and the entropy-weighted TOPSIS model was used to evaluate water resource carrying capacity.The results indicated that the proportion of total water consumption by each city remained relatively stable over time.However, in recent years, due to differences in industrial development levels among the cities, the disparities in industrial water use and ecological water use had increased.Agricultural water use dominated in all cities of Jiangxi Province, while the proportion of industrial water use was gradually decreasing, and the proportion of ecological water use was significantly increasing.Overall, there were considerable differences in water use structures among the cities, e.g.Nanchang and Pingxiang cities demonstrated the most optimal water use structures.The water resource carrying capacity in the northern part of Jiangxi Province was better than that in the southern part.The provincial capital Nanchang city outperformed the neighboring cities.Nanchang and Xinyu had the highest water resource carrying capacity.Yichun and Shangrao were ranked high in terms of water resource subsystem carrying capacity, and Nanchang and Xinyu had the best performance in social subsystem, and Nanchang and Jingdezhen cities had the highest carrying capacity in ecological subsystem.