Panzhuang Irrigation District is one of the Yellow River irrigation areas. The spatial and temporal distribution of water resources is severely uneven in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the irrigation district. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to study the differences of crop water consumption (evapotranspiration-ET), irrigation amount, soil water and water use efficiency (WUE) of winter wheat, summer maize and cotton which are the main crops in the irrigation district. This paper improved calculating methods of the capillary rise and percolation of the established model. The model was then applied to the upper, middle and lower reaches of the irrigation district. Conclusions by the model simulation were as follows: (I) The model could simulate the dynamics of water balance components of wheat-maize and cotton relatively accurately in the irrigation district. (II) Winter wheat and summer maize (wheat-maize) had the highest ET in the upper reaches, followed by the middle reaches and then the lower reaches. There was almost no difference for cotton ET in the upper, middle and lower reaches. (III) Irrigation amount of wheat-maize was 225-300 mm in the upstream, 300 mm in the middle reaches, and 500 mm in the downstream. Cotton irrigation quantity was 60-150 mm in the upper and middle reaches, and 60-390 mm in the lower reaches. (IV) Soil water basically showed a decreasing trend in growth periods of wheat-maize and cotton in the middle and lower reaches, its recharge was primarily from irrigation of wheat. Combined with other references, there was a trend of soil drying in the North China Plain. (V) Mean values of water use efficiency (WUE) of winter wheat, summer maize and cotton were highest in the middle reaches and lowest in the upstream and downstream.
