This study develops a spatial "source-flow-use" accounting framework to quantify the supply and allocation of high-quality water resources (HQWRs) from ecological conservation areas. Using a national park case study, it reveals significant allocation mismatches, with agriculture consuming over one-third of HQWRs while higher-value sectors receive minimal shares. Billions of cubic meters of HQWRs remain underutilized. The framework offers a replicable metric for instituting ecological compensation, differentiated pricing, and improved governance by valuing pristine water at its source, thereby integrating protected-area ecosystem services into regional water management.

This study develops a "Sustainable Water Space" network model to analyze the synergistic relationships among 53 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators in the Yellow River Basin from 2015 to 2022. It reveals a stable four-cluster structure and identifies key water-related indicators—such as water use per unit GDP—that have evolved into critical "bridges" linking socioeconomic and water systems. The analysis further categorizes regions by complexity and eigenvector centrality, proposing differentiated policy strategies, such as focusing on residential wastewater reduction in high-complexity areas and industrial pollution control in low-complexity ones. The framework offers a systematic tool for guiding coordinated water management and sustainable development in the basin.