This manuscript proposed an optimal operating strategy with a focus on alleviating the concentrated water shortage problem of the Jiangsu section of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. As the authors stated, it is important to balance multiple objectives including social, economic, and ecological objectives, and find the optimal operation rules for efficient water resources utilization. The strategies derived from NSGA-III have been further filtrated with the multi-attribute decision-making method, which is quite innovative and can solve the problem of uneven spatial and temporal distribution of water resources. In general, this manuscript is organized well. I have several suggestions before it can be accepted for publication in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.

1. The Introduction section needs to be rewritten/reorganized to be more clear and focused. For a logically sound presentation, this section should start with an overall introduction of IBWD, followed by a generalized discussion of the main research efforts and remaining gaps of IBWD worldwide. Next, China’s SNWDP-specific information should be provided in detail, which transitions to the key research objectives and contributions of this paper. With each of the above four aspects occupying at least one dedicated paragraph, I suggest proceeding straight to the point (SNWDP-focused study) after necessary background information (IBWD in general) to avoid blurring of the key message conveyed by the present study.
2. Line 15, "NSGA" as an acronym should be defined on its first use in the manuscript.
3. Lines 72-74, please add appropriate citations for the sentence "At the same time...".
4. Line 129, the title should be "2.1 Study area and data"
5. Line 192, the title should be "2.2 Water deficit evenness index"
6. Section 2.4 lacks the introduction of the specific application of the NSGA-Ⅲ algorithm in the model. In addition, why use the multi-attribute decision to filter again after obtaining a set of operation strategies? Please add the explanation.
7. The text in Fig 4 is not clear, please revise the figure with a dark text color.
8. The study is conducted to address the problem of concentrated water shortage. It is recommended that section 3.2 be specifically divided into several subsections based on the optimization effects from different aspects, so as to highlight the contribution of the Water deficit evenness index.
9. Lines 419-430, the authors summarized the control rules for appropriate lake levels and proposed suggestions for actual operation, which is more suitable for the discussion section. Please revise and reorganize the discussion section.
10. The use of (1) or 1) is not uniform throughout the manuscript. Please revise it.
11. Is this method universal? Are the results of this research capable of being applied to other similar cases? Please add some necessary sentences to illustrate this clearly in the conclusion.
12. There are a few typos and grammar errors in the manuscript. English should be improved.