The hydraulic characteristics of a centrifugal pump change when in a plateau, while the corresponding law is unclear. Therefore, experimental research needs to be undertaken on the hydraulic characteristics of a centrifugal pump in a plateau for a quantitative analysis of the changing law. In this paper, the working status of a centrifugal pump in a plateau was simulated by the method of controlling the inlet vacuum so as to acquire the pressure and the flow data under different working conditions. The corresponding conclusions were reached by using thorough data analysis, which shows that with every 500m increase in altitude, the accompanying pump pressure decreased by about 5%-10%, the flow decreased by about 2%-5% and the overall efficiency decreased by about 2%-9%. This theoretical analysis shows that the increase in pump frictional loss is the fundamental reason for the change in the hydraulic characteristics of a centrifugal pump in a plateau.