Global food demand is constantly increasing with population growth and is predicted to be nearly twice as high in 2050 as in 2005(Tilman et al., 2011. Agriculture is the largest consumer of fresh water, accounting for approximately 75% of water use by humans (Wallace, 2000). However, approximately 4 billion people and 76% of global croplands are facing severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year (Mekonnen & Hoekstra, 2016;Rosa et al., 2020). In vast inland arid regions, irrigated agricultural systems also compete intensely with vulnerable ecosystems for limited water resources (Sun et al., 2018). The regression of the Aral Sea, a well-known ecological tragedy, is largely attributed to the irrigation-intensive industries in the former Soviet Republics (Varis, 2014). Therefore, an irrigation system with high water-use efficiency is vital for the sustainability of such areas.However, the paradox of irrigation efficiency (IE) has long been recognized; that is, higher efficiency rarely reduces irrigation water consumption (Burt et al., 1997;Scott et al., 2014). A recent perspective paper in Science (Grafton et al., 2018) revisited the paradox and summarized two major causes of this phenomenon. First, non-consumed water "losses" at the farm scale (e.g., the runoff return to rivers and groundwater recharge by irrigation water) are often recovered and reused at the basin scale. Second, advanced irrigation technologies subsidized by governments may encourage the expansion of irrigated areas. This previous paper further highlights the need to develop detailed water accounts from the farm scale to the basin scale to support decision-making in the public interest. While the paper conceptualizes the desired accounting for