Abstract: In view of the proposition of total water use control, this paper introduces the concepts of benefit and compensation from economics into water resources allocation. Based on the newsboy model, a multi-objective water allocation system that takes a total water use control quota as the core state variable of water allocation is constructed and applied in the Dongjiang river basin. The principle of decomposition and coordination for large-scale systems was adopted to solve the model, and it provided water distribution results in the schemes of high and low quotas for domestic water use control in 2020. The results show that in these schemes, the water volumes allocated to various sectors had minor differences but the net benefits at the low quota are higher than those at the high quota. And during an extreme dry year, the water deficit ratio exceeded 50%. This newsboy model coordinates well the beneficial relationship of available water resources, water demand and water use control quota versus water allocation. The improvement on net benefits of each water use sector reflects the rationality of water allocation and confirms the feasibility of this model.