Water footprint quantifies water resource consumption and nitrogen emission simultaneously during crop growth and provides a new method for irrigation and drainage modes evaluation in paddy rice field. Experiments were conducted during two consecutive years (2017 and 2018). Paddy rice was grown under four irrigation and drainage modes in microplots at the same location in each year. These treatments were frequent and shallow irrigation (FSI), wet-shallow irrigation (WSI), controlled irrigation (CI) and rain-catching and controlled irrigation (RC-CI). The general objectives were to calculate and analyze crop water footprint indicators, evaluate effect of modes on these indicators and choose efficient mode. The effect of the treatments on blue water footprint, green water footprint, grey water footprint, crop water footprint (WF) and its composition, and water footprint of production (WFP) was evaluated. These indicators were apparently different. WF of all treatments was within 846.3~1132.3mm. WF of RC-CI treatment was the smallest while annual WF of FSI treatment was the largest. The average annual WFP were 1.26m3/kg (FSI), 1.18m3/kg (WSI), 1.08m3/kg (RC-CI) and 1.06 m3/kg(CI), respectively. The percentage of blue, green and grey WF were 10.9%~22.3%, 28.8%~44.1% and 39.4%~55.0%, respectively. The percentage of blue WF was the largest for FSI treatment and that of green WF was superior for RC-CI treatment. RC-CI treatment reduced WF and opportunity cost. Besides, WFP of CI treatment and RC-CI treatment was close and relatively small. On the whole, RC-CI should be adopted to save water and reduce pollution caused by nitrogen emission. The research result can provide references for the selection of efficient rice irrigation and drainage mode and the formulation of agricultural water-saving strategies.