Abstract: In this study, seven early maturing maize inbred lines were evaluated for some water related traits under 3 different water-stress treatments performed by using 0, 3 and 6% Polyethylen Glycol (PEG) solutions. The experiment was carried out in a split plot design with 3 replications. Main plots and sub plots were allocated to water-stress treatments and inbred lines, respectively. When the inbred lines reached to 6-leaf stage, Water Use Efficiency (WUE), Leaf Relative Water Content (LRWC), Excised Leaf Water Lost (ELWL) and stomata characteristics were measured for all inbred lines under the three treatments. Height and dry matter were also recorded for the all 7 inbred lines. Although inbred lines behaved differently when they were subjected to water-stress, nonetheless, the results indicated that water-stress significantly influence all characters except ELWL. This indicates that ELWL is not a sui criterion for screening water-stress tolerant genotypes. Stomatal area per unit area of leaf and number of stomata were increased due to water stress in most inbred lines. WUE fluctuated based on the inbred lines so that some of the inbred lines had higher WUE under water-stress conditions and some of them had lower WUE at the same conditions. Inbred lines showed significant differences for all characters except the number of stomata on abaxial surface of leaves and height. Among the water-related characters studied, LRWC seemed to be the best character for screening drought tolerant genotypes due to its quick response to water-stress at the two stress treatments. LRWC showed a significant positive correlation with dry matter and height indicating that genotypes having high LRWC under water- stress conditions will produce more dry matter and height.