Abstract: The difficulty caused by segregation for inter-departmental collaboration is a long-term problem in public administration. Most of the existing ideas to solve this problem focus on administrative system reform and process reengineering. In recent years, with the deep integration of data resources, data technology and administrative practice, it has become a practical phenomenon worthy of attention to enhance inter-departmental collaborative governance capacity through data empowerment without changing the division of functions and boundaries of authority and responsibility of departments, and it is especially necessary to dig deeper and condense the operational mechanism of data empowerment for inter-departmental collaboration from a theoretical perspective. In the practice of "Internet+" river chief system, data empowerment has formed a "tool-object" interface framework that is different from the traditional type of interface governance, in which data disclosure enhances the power for problem judgment and solution at the grass-roots level and compacts the local responsibility. The data integration enhances the right of the coordinating department to speak and decides on the responsible subject precisely based on the information. The data trace indicates the right of the disadvantaged department through the right of the leader and compacts the responsibility of the line department. The empowerment- and responsibility-based governance function of the data reduces the power gap and forms a triage governance pattern, promoting the vertical unification and horizontal integration and the inter-departmental collaborative governance of water environment.