Alleviating the dependence of economic growth on water resources consumption is crucial to the sustainable development of urban agglomerations. Taking the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration as the research object, we discussed its water resources load index from the overall and urban dimensions, analyzed the temporal and spatial characteristics of the decoupling between economic growth and water consumption using the Tapio decoupling model, and explored the driving effect of influencing factors based on LMDI. The results show that the water resources load of the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration was relatively high during the study period. Except Zhaoqing, Huizhou and Jiangmen, the water resources load of the other six cities all reached grade V; the strong and weak decoupling status of the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration accounted for 98.9%, some of the cities showed an alternating state of strong and weak decoupling; technological effect, industrial structure and water-saving capacity were the main driving factors for the decoupling of the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration, whereas the benefits of unit water resources and population size inhibited the decoupling. This study can provide a theoretical support for alleviating the dependence of urban economic growth on water resources and realizing regional sustainable development.