Abstract: Water resources shortage has become an important object of regional research because it shows serious consequence,e,g.it restricts the economic development in many countries and regions in the world.The shortage of water resources,in the light of supply,is classified into supplying shortage,economic shortage and absolute shortage,and in the light of demand,into baseline shortage,productive shortage and environmental shortage.The effects of the productive shortage of water resources on the regional economic development include the following three aspcts: 1)the effect on the total output target of regional economic growth; 2)the effect on the regional economic structure; 3)the effect on the location and spatial structure of regional economy. At a given target of economic growth,the effect of water resources shortage on economic growth is the functions of economic structure,technological progress,the extent of water saving and the extent of water resources shortage.