Abstract: In order to solve the problem of high energy consumption of pumping station, the particle swarm optimization algorithm was used to study the short-term economic scheduling scheme of Xuhong River on the east route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Based on the water balance me-thod, coupled with the flow, water level, storage and hydraulic loss function, change process of channel water situation was dynamically simulated. The electric charge generated during the dynamic adjustment of pump station head was taken into account, and the minimum deviation between the total electric charge generated by the cascade water transmission system and the water level after regulation and the target was taken as the optimization objective, wherein the target water level was the calculation result of the optimal distribution model of cascade head adapted to the short-term adjustment. Based on the measured data, the model results were analyzed and verified. The results show that the average error between the simulated value and the measured value is about 10 cm. The introduction of water level target in the cascade short-term optimal scheduling model enhances the optimization effect, further reduces the electricity cost of 4.7 yuan/10 000 m~3, and the unit operating cost of the optimization scheme can effectively reduce 6.7% compared with the actual scheduling.