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Both the natural and social water cycles form part of the regional water cycle, and the assessment of the health of the social water cycle provides useful recommendations for resource allocation, urban planning, and development. The Zheng-Bian-Luo region (Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang city cluster in China) is used as an example in this study. The three-level "goal criterion index" is used to develop a water cycle index system based on deeper knowledge of the notion of the social water cycle. The system has four criterion layers that measure water quantity, utility, quality, and ecology, in addition to 22 index levels regarding the total water resources and drinking water compliance rate. By using this as a foundation, the minimum information entropy principle was applied to couple AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and EFAST (Extended Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Analysis) in order to calculate the comprehensive weights of the evaluation indicators and build a VIKOR (Intuitionistic Fuzzy Multi-attribute Decision Making Method) model of the relative preference relationship of the fused weights. This model was then compared to the conventional VIKOR model and the FCE (Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method) method in order to reflect on the objectivity of the evaluation results. The primary barriers preventing the improvement of water cycle health in the Zheng-Bian-Luo region were determined in this study by using the barrier degree model. The findings demonstrate that over the past 11 years, the overall water cycle health in the Zheng-Bian-Luo region has developed toward a healthy trend and that the water cycle health level in the region has gradually improved from the initial sub-pathological state to a healthy state. The results also demonstrate compliance with domestic drinking water sources, comprehensive water consumption per capita, the water consumption of CNY 10,000 of industrial-added value, the water consumption of CNY 10,000 of GDP, and the water consumption of CNY 10,000 for water. The primary barrier to the Zheng-Bian-Luo region's improvement in water health is the water consumption ratio. The findings of this study can serve as a scientific foundation for creating a balanced urban water cycle and achieving long-term development in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A Water-economy-ecology concept framework is established. • An evaluation index system of 3 aspects including 15 indicators is constructed. • EFAST-Cloud model is innovatively proposed and applied in regional WRCC evaluation. • The WRCC of Henan Province is evaluated at the watershed scale and municipal scale. Water is the basic need for human survival and the development of economy and ecology. Water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) modelling is a fundamental task to explore the interaction mechanism between economy-ecology development and water resources carrying system. To reasonably quantify the regional WRCC, an evaluation method based on Water-economy-ecology (WEE) concept framework and EFAST-Cloud model is proposed in this study, and Henan Province of China is selected as a typical study area. It can both identify the inter-feeding relationships between sub-systems and evaluate the proportion of each grade in detail by reflecting the randomness and fuzziness of the evaluation. A total of 15 indicators including water system, economy system, and ecology system are constructed. The study analyzes the sensitivity of indicators by using Simlab software and then calculates the weight of indicators by using EFAST method. Compared with other traditional methods, EFAST algorithm is a special method for model sensitivity analysis, which can fully consider the coupling effect between indicators. According to the statistical data of 2010, 2015, and 2020, the WRCC at the watershed scale and municipal scale in Henan Province are evaluated through the EFAST-Cloud model. At the watershed scale, the ecology system criterion layer performs best over the multiple years, the Huaihe and Yangtze River basin have better WRCC at the target layer. At the municipal scale, Xuchang, Luohe, and Zhumadian have better WRCC, Puyang, Zhoukou, and Jiaozuo are slightly worse. The results show that WRCC of the study area has shown an overall improvement, but there is still much space for its development. Therefore, targeted recommendations are made for the water, economy, and ecology system respectively. The conclusion of this paper can provide a reference for the government in making water resources management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]