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Ecological compensation is an important economic means of water pollution control and quality management, especially for trans-regional rivers with unbalanced economic and social development between upstream and downstream. The Tangbai River Basin (TRB), a watershed crossing Henan province and Hubei province, China, forms one of the nation's most productive agricultural regions. The TRB has been exposed to high doses of fertilizers for a long time. This study simulates hydrologic and nutrient cycling in the TRB using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with limited data available. The results indicate that dryland fields, which constitute 62% of the basin area, produce 80% of total nitrogen (TN) and 85% of total phosphorus (TP) yields of the whole river basin. The water quality of river sections at the provincial boundary shows that only 29% of the time from 2000 to 2019 met the Class III standard regarding TN and TP concentrations, and the concentrations in the spring flood season are approximately three times the mean in the non-flood season. The Grain for Green ecological restoration measure in Henan province shows that restoration of non-flat drylands can reduce nutrient loads at trans-provincial sections by 3.5 times compared to that of slope-independent drylands; however, the water quality compliance rate remains similar. The value of ecological compensation can also vary widely depending on different quantitative criteria. The SWAT-based pollutant quantification method adopted in this study could have implications for ecological compensation in trans-regional rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]