Water ecological management and construction of water ecological barriers in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt are of great significance for ensuring the high-quality development of the entire belt. Water ecological management cannot be carried out in isolation，and it is necessary to persist in the overall planning and advancement of the “landscape，forest，field，lake and grass” system management. The ecological background of the upper reaches is fragile，the aquatic biodiversity still has the risk of degradation，the prevention and control of water environment pollution is still arduous，and the system and mechanism of cross-regional water ecological protection still need to be improved. It is necessary to strengthen comprehensive ecological protection and restoration with aquatic ecology as the core，effectively strengthen the protection of aquatic biodiversity，comprehensively promote the treatment of industrial pollution along the river，water environmental pollution，and rural and agricultural environmental management，improve the cross-regional coordination mechanism of joint prevention and control of water environmental pollution and water ecological protection，and build upstream green growth poles with urban agglomerations and metropolitan circles as the main carriers and accelerate the transformation of the development model under the paradigm of ecological civilization.