Abstract: Interprovincial water conflict, by nature, is a gaming process around benefit among all parties despite its various tokens. Game theory is employed to analyze the evolution of interprovincial water conflicts, in particular, the evolutionary gaming process of addressing  water conflict between the central government and local government by constructing water conservancy projects. The water conflict at Jingziguan County which locates at the shared border  of Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi Provinces by the Danjiang River is taken as a case study. An effective prevention framework comprising mechanisms of information collection, information processing and analyzing, information evaluation and prediction, as well as communication and intervention is put forward. The prevention mechanism will diminish damage and improve efficiency rather than to mediate afterwards.

Key words: game theory, interprovincial, water conflict, prevention mechanism