In the Hetao Irrigation Districts of the Ningxia autonomous region, Upper Yellow River Basin, the "con-tinuous deep flooding irrigation" method is used for the rice paddies. The field irrigation water use during the rice-growing season is two to three times higher than in other regions of North China where water-saving practices have been introduced. This paper, based on the data measured in experimental rice fields and sub-branch canal systems, presents main results concerning crop evapotranspira-tion, percolation and irrigation requirements for deep and shallow water irrigation. Causes for water waste relate to both the lack of regulation in supply and distribution canals and to the poor management of paddy fields. The potential for water saving is discussed using water bal-ance data. Improved irrigation techniques and water man-agement strategies, including the shallow water irrigation method, are suggested considering the expected impacts and benefits. Replacing the current continuous deep flood-ing with the shallow-ponded water irrigation method may reduce the growing season irrigation water use from 1,405 to 820mm in average, with a likely increase in yields of 450kg/ha. Water productivity would then increase from 0.49 to 1.03kg/m3. Adopting improved canal manage-ment and modernization of regulation and control struc-tures may lead to decreasing the gross irrigation demand from the present 3,100mm to about 1,280mm, which would highly benefit the environmental conditions in the area.