Abstract: Water is the most important natural resource. As a carrier of water resources in nature, river basins have nurtured human civilization and borne various economic and social activities. China is facing a huge challenge of serious imbalance between water resource supply and the demand for production and life, and the protection and rational utilization of water resource in river basins is of great concern to the people. As the federal government agency responsible for water science activities, United States Geological Survey (USGS) has gained rich experience and achievements in the past century in the Colorado River Basin, which has reference sighificance for water resource management and governance in China. This paper introduced water resource management and governance process of USGS in the Colorado River Basin, and overviewed the characteristics of the change of work objectives and content adjustment at each stage. Finally, three enlightenments for the management and governance of water resources in China's basin were summarized. ① The participation of stakeholders in water resources decision-making should be strengthened. ②Integrated water resource management(IWRM)is the development trend, including the integrated management between water-related departments, within water systems, between water resource and other natural resources; ③ The three-dimensional hydrological monitoring network should be completed to establish a hydrological data sharing platform and improve interdisciplinary water resource forecasting capabilities. The study aim is to provide a mature case as a reference for China to carry out extensive investigation and planning, monitoring and management, protection and restoration of river basin water resource.