Considering the upstream side of the Sanjiadian station in the Yongding River basin as a study area,the instream ecological water demand was calculated for different hydrological years using the flow duration curve method to analyze if ecological water supplements can meet the instream ecological water demand. Subsequently,the deficiency in instream ecological water demand under the current hydrological conditions was determined. Based on the ecological water supplements in 2019 and 2020,the water receiving ratios to total supplemented water were evaluated at main cross-sections,and the spatial distribution of water losses along the main stream was calculated. Further,the contributions of the ecological water supplements to the inflow of the Guanting reservoir were quantitatively assessed,and an ecological water operation model was developed. Rational water supplement schemes were recommended by simulating ecological water operations under different water supplement scenarios. The results showed that severe deficiencies in water demand existed at main cross-sections under current conditions;in particular,the deficiency was up to 97% at the Sanjiadian station. The water loss ratio was within the range of (0.94%—5.38%)/10 km and was higher upstream than downstream. The water receiving ratio was found to be positively correlated with the upstream water supplement. The NSE of the developed model was 0.67—0.96 during calibration and validation,which could reflect water movement during the ecological water supplement. Based on the simulation results of ecological water operations under different scenarios,scenarios 4 and 5 were recommended for low and high flow rate demands,respectively. The findings of this study are crucial in the understanding of the influence of interbasin water transfer on the ecological flow rate restoration process for seasonal rivers in northern China and can provide technical support for making Yongding River interbasin water transfer and intrabasin water supplement plans for ecological water restoration. © 2024 Tianjin University. All rights reserved.