For the scientific and objective evaluation of regional water use efficiency, a projection pursuit(PP)model based on the soccer league competition(SLC)algorithm was established. The evaluation of water use efficiency in Wenshan Prefecture during the period from 2006 to 2015 was used as an example. The SLC algorithm was validated using six typical high-dimensional functions, and the simulation results were compared with the optimization results of the teaching-learning-based optimization(TLBO)algorithm, gray wolf optimization(GWO)algorithm, differential evolution(DE)algorithm, shuffled frog-leaping algorithm(SFLA), particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm, and imperial competitive algorithm(ICA). From five types of water use, including comprehensive water use, industrial water use, agricultural water use, domestic water use, and ecological environmental water use, 23 indices were selected to build an index system for the evaluation of water use efficiency. A water use efficiency evaluation standard with five grades(low level, relatively low level, medium level, relatively high level, and high level)were constructed based on the mean and standard deviation values of the projection series. Based on this standard, the SLC-PP model was used to analyze the trend of water use efficiency in the study area over the past ten years. The results showed the following: First, whether for the optimization of unimodal or multimodal functions, the SLC algorithm performs better than the TLBO and GWO algorithms, and much better than the DE, SFLA, PSO, and ICA algorithms. The SLC algorithm has the advantages of high optimization accuracy, fast convergence, high capability in seeking extreme values, excellent stability, and high reliability. Second, the evaluation results of water use efficiency in the study area using the SLC-PP model show that the water use efficiency grades were at a low level in the period from 2006 to 2007, a medium level from 2008 to 2012, and a relatively high level from 2013 to 2015. The water use efficiency shows a significant increasing trend over time.