Dear Reviewer ,

Thank you for your insightful comments and suggestions regarding our manuscript, "Reframing Water Demand Management: A New Co-Governance Framework Coupling Supply-side and Demand-side Solutions Toward Sustainability." We appreciate the opportunity to enhance our paper and agree that your suggestions will strengthen its contribution.

1. Linkage with Section 2:

In response to your advice, we expanded Section 2 to detail how our co-governance framework addresses the key challenges in water resource management. In Section 4, we now demonstrate the practical application and effectiveness of these strategies. This modification not only improves the coherence between the two sections but also more clearly showcases the comprehensiveness and practicality of our framework.

Furthermore, we have revised Section 4 to better articulate how our co-governance framework addresses the challenges and uncertainties highlighted in Section 2. Specifically, we have added several strategies in Section4 including reducing energy expenditures, reforming water pricing, and expanding the scope of negotiation and cooperation, which elucidates the framework’s capacity to integrate multiple dimensions of water demand management. This revision underscores its relevance and adaptability to the evolving scenarios and sustainability issues you mentioned.

1. Consistency in Figures:

Regarding the inconsistency in the format of the figures, we have standardized the resolution and style across all figures. Now, all figures are presented in a uniform format, better integrating into the overall structure of the paper.

We believe these revisions have significantly improved the manuscript and thank you again for your constructive feedback. We are open to any further suggestions or comments you may have.

Dear Reviewer ,

Thank you for your thoughtful and constructive feedback on our manuscript, "Reframing Water Demand Management: A New Co-Governance Framework Coupling Supply-side and Demand-side Solutions Toward Sustainability." We are grateful for your recognition of the work's structure and relevance, particularly in the context of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China.

In response to your suggestion, we have specifically emphasized the practicality of our recommendations for other planned water diversion projects worldwide. In Section 4, we integrated core principles of economics with mathematical techniques of game theory to conduct a comprehensive analysis of water diversion projects. We applied economic theories and the mathematical framework of game theory to address the issue of enhancing the sustainability of such projects. Specifically, we proposed a set of practical and actionable strategies, including reducing energy consumption, developing adaptive water pricing mechanisms, and expanding the scope of negotiation and cooperation, while also considering the significance of these projects in the context of climate change. These strategies are not only applicable to China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project but also offer pragmatic guidance for other global water diversion initiatives. We firmly believe that these well-designed strategies will significantly enhance the practical application value of our paper and provide strong guidance and insights for practitioners in the field of water resource management. We are open to any further suggestions or comments you may have.