To reduce water input by water-saving irrigation techniques a field study was carried out with three water managements, very shallow intermittent irrigation (VSII, 2 cm), shallow intermittent irrigation (SII, 4 cm) and traditional deep water irrigation (DWI, 10 cm) for two years. Rice growth and grain yields of three water managements were not significantly different. However, when the water irrigation depth was decreased, the breaking and lodging resistance were increased and the roots were widely distributed into deeper paddy soil. More numbers of both annual and perennial weeds were occurred in VSII than in DWI at maximum tillering stage and only the number of perennial weeds was three times in VSII than in DWI at heading stage. The total water inputs were 777, 654 and 527 mm in DWI, SII and VSII, therefore the water-saving rates of VSII and SII were 32.2% and 15.9% compared to typical deep water irrigation. The water-productivity (Rice yield to water input) was highest in VSII as 0.94 and followed by SII as 0.76 and DWI as 0.63. In the face of water scarcity, it is very important to find or develope water saving irrigation system and find ways to increase the productivity of water used for rice cultivation.