This manuscript presents a comprehensive basin-scale hydroeconomic optimization model (HEM) for the Yellow River Basin (YRB). The integration of hydrological, infrastructural, and economic components within a node-link network, calibrated via Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP), constitutes a substantial modeling effort and a valuable case study. However, several major concerns must be addressed to enhance the manuscript's contribution and scientific rigor, primarily pertaining to the model's conceptual framing, the completeness of its economic valuation, and the validation of its results. The specific comments are detailed in the attached review PDF.

The Yellow River is one of the most important river basins in the world. In this paper, a hydroeconomic optimization model is built up for the Yellow River basin. The objective is to maximize overall economic benefits of irrigated crop production, water supply and hydropower generation, by considering the constraints of resource, infrastructural, operational and policy. Overall, the paper is well-written with the methods and results clearly illustrated.

There are three comments for the improvement of this paper.

First of all, the water resources issue has been investigated for the Yellow River basin for years. For an early review, please refer to Wu et al. (2004) and Cai (2008). Given the extensive existing studies, the authors may want to highlight what’s new in the proposed hydroeconomic model. If possible, the authors may create a timeline of the major developments of hydroeconomic model for the Yellow River basin with the illustration of key issues at different stages of development.

The second comment relates to the first one. Given the importance of the Yellow River basin, the authors may want to illustrate this basin in the title of this paper. Currently, the title is “Hydroeconomic Optimization of Water Management: Dealing with Scarcity at the Basin Scale” reads like a review paper.

Thirdly, “Hydroeconomic Optimization” is not a new subject in the field of water resources. One concern is that the objectives/constraints considered are far from real-world issues. Given that the model cover the years from 1996 to 2015, can the authors collect some real-world data to showcase that the findings are consistent with things happened in the past?

References:

[1] Baosheng, W., Zhaoyin, W. and Changzhi, L.I., 2004. Yellow River Basin management and current issues. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 14(1), pp.29-37.

[2] Cai, Ximing. "Water stress, water transfer and social equity in Northern China—Implications for policy reforms." Journal of Environmental Management 87, no. 1 (2008): 14-25.