To elucidate the ionization dynamics, in particular the vibrational distribution, of H 2 O +(Ã) produced by photoionization and the Penning ionization of H 2 O and D 2 O with He *(2 3S) atoms, Franck–Condon factors (FCFs) were given for the [Formula: see text] ionization, and the transition probabilities were presented for the [Formula: see text] emission. The FCFs were obtained by quantum vibrational calculations using the three-dimensional potential energy surfaces (PESs) of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] electronic states. The global PESs were determined by the multi-reference configuration interaction calculations with the Davidson correction and the interpolant moving least squares method combined with the Shepard interpolation. The obtained FCFs exhibit that the [Formula: see text] state primarily populates the vibrational ground state, as its equilibrium geometry is almost equal to that of [Formula: see text], while the bending mode (ν2) is strongly enhanced for the H 2 O +(Ã) state; the maximums in the population of H 2 O + and D 2 O + are approximately v2 = 11–12 and 15–17, respectively. These results are consistent with the distributions observed by photoelectron spectroscopy. Transition probabilities for the [Formula: see text] system of H 2 O + and D 2 O + show that the bending progressions consist primarily of the [Formula: see text] emission, with combination bands from the (1, v′2 = 4–8, 0) level being next most important.