In contemporary society, water pollution has emerged as a critical environmental challenge, necessitating effective strategies for its control. This paper examines the strategic interactions involved in water pollution control, focusing particularly on the behavioral choices and influencing factors of governmental bodies and industrial stakeholders. By integrating psychological accounting theory into an evolutionary game model, we comprehensively analyze the decision-making processes of both government entities and industrial polluters. We simulate the trade-offs and choices between active pollution control measures and laissez-faire approaches. Our findings reveal that psychological value perceptions play a crucial role in shaping all stakeholders’ behavioral decisions and strategy evolution. The effectiveness of water pollution control is influenced by a range of factors, including treatment costs, decision-making influence coefficients, and risk preferences. The study underscores the importance of acknowledging the impact of psychological value perceptions, reducing treatment costs, and enhancing environmental awareness among participants as an effective means to promote water pollution control behaviors. Based on our game-theoretic analysis and simulation results, we propose specific policy recommendations and theoretical insights aimed at enhancing the efficiency of water pollution control efforts, with the ultimate goal of promoting the protection and sustainable utilization of water resources and raising public awareness of environmental protection.