The concept of water footprint is different from the traditional “water-drawing” index. It has innovatively combined the people's production and consumption with water consumption and pollution, and mak the public realize that the overall consumption and pollution of water resources is inseparable with the type and quantity of production and consumption products. The application of water footprint theory provided an important basis for the strategy study of water safety, witch has become a research hotspot in water resources management. This paper summarized the research progress of the spatial-temporal scale of water footprint accounting (Class A, B and C scale), the range of water footprint accounting (blue, green and grey water footprint), the sustainable assessment and the empirical study of the water footprint at home and abroad. Finally it forecasted the research prospective in water footprint.