Based on clear awareness of the origin and the concept of water footprint, water footprint method on the basis of virtual water-based theory, life cycle assessment(LCA)and LCA based water footprint method are comprehensively reviewed. After comparing the feature of different methods and the significance of the research, it is considered that virtual water-based theory based water footprint method can be applied in the regional level, while LCA based water footprint method is more suitable for product level. By combining these two, the research methods and tracks for sustainable utilization of agricultural water resources from the regional level to the product level are proposed.