A quality integrated development of Yangtze River Delta needs attention on its ecological cultural construction, but it faces water shortage and worsening water ecological environmental issues. Trans-regional water resource protection can not be effectively performed due to its externality of water resource as a public affair, which makes ecological compensation of water resource a key point in reaching a co-integrated development in Yangtze River Delta. This paper uses water footprint theory to establish a standard measuring model of 2008 to 2017 bidirectional water footprint ecological compensation of Yangtze River Delta, and constructs an evolutionary gaming model based on central-governmental constraining-stimulating mechanism to reach an optimal stable balanced strategy. Yangtze River Delta is simulated as a water importing area with rising imports and consumption during the decade at yearly average consumption up to 158.62 billion cubic meters, in actual water use most by agricultural water footprint, while trading water footprint is rising at an uneven rate. Jiangsu contributes the most in simulated water use, followed by Anhui, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Its ecological compensation amounts shows a climbing tendency. Jiangsu gets the most at a yearly RMB9.222 billion, followed by Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai, but Jiangsu has a lowest compensation to input ratio at 63%, and Shanghai is the highest at 78%. After constraining-stimulating mechanism is in place, Yangtze River Delta can reach an optimal balanced protection and compensation strategy if central governmental sum of fines and stimulus is higher than its ecological compensation amounts on either defaults, and if the sum is higher than two times of opportunity cost, and less than its compensation amounts on both defaults, Zhejiang seats on top in stimulating and punishing range changes in the decade. 

Phosphorus pollution factor is added to the traditional measurement to measure the grey water footprint of each domain in the provinces(cities) of Yangtze river delta region from 2005 to 2017, and regression model is used to verify the relation between grey water footprint and GDP in the provinces (cities), in an attempt to explore a coordinated developing model of economy and water resources. Unlike the traditional measurement in which gross nitrogen and COD are the major pollution factors in agricultural grey water footprint, phosphorus has become the chief pollution source of agricultural grey water footprint in Yangtze river delta region. Grey water footprint shows a decreasing-increasing-decreasing trend in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces from 2005 to 2017, continuously decreasing in Shanghai city. Water quality is generally improving in Yangtze river delta region along with an increased water resources use efficiency. There is a descending correlation curve of water quality and economic development in Shanghai, an upside-down N-shaped curve in Jiangsu and Anhui, and an upside-down U-shaped curve in Zhejiang. This study provides references for governments to adopt differentiated water pollution control measures through analysis of the relation of grey water footprint and economic development in Yangtze river delta region.