Abstract: The Jiaodong water diversion project（JWDP） in Shandong Province is an important cross-basin water diversion project to alleviate or solve the water shortage problem in the Jiaodong district of Shandong Province, China, especially in Weifang City, Qingdao City, Yantai City and Weihai City. In order to improve the management level of JWDP and realize fine dispatching operation, the water dispatch optimizations of JWDP based on water supply priority mode and water supply equilibrium mode are carried out, with a limited channel capacity of JWDP. Firstly, an evaluation index system for water supply priority is constructed from three aspects---water shortage degree, water consumption efficiency, and the support of water diversion to social-economic development. The levels of water supply priority of the four cities in Jiaodong District are determined by an entropy weighting method. Secondly, under the same optimization goal（minimize total water shortage）, two water dispatch optimization models are constructed respectively, one based on water supply priority mode and by using the goal planning method, another based on water supply equilibrium mode and by using the linear planning method. Thirdly, the water dispatch optimization models are applied for two situations: scenario 1（the water demand in 2017-2018） and scenario 2（a special dry year, the water demand equals diversion index）. The optimized results show that, in the dry year, under water supply equilibrium mode, the total water transfer and the average water transfer satisfaction rate of the four cities are higher than those of the water supply priority operation mode. In the special dry year, under water supply priority mode, only the water demand of the receiving area with the highest priority can be met, and the average water transfer satisfaction rate of the four cities is 61.57%. Under water supply equilibrium mode, although the water demand of the four cities cannot be met, the average water transfer satisfaction rate of the four cities reaches more than 76.81%. Therefore, under the two situations, the average water transfer satisfaction rate of the four cities under the equilibrium mode is higher than the priority mode. This study provides a theoretical support for policymaker of JWDP to choose water dispatching modes, and also a reference for similar water diversion projects.