Carbon reduction and water conservation are important issues that affect the sustainable development of the Yellow River Urban. From the perspective of water resources ecology and carbon footprint, the coupling study of regional water-carbon relationship will help reveal the relationship between the quantity and quality of water resources and carbon emissions, and provide some guidance for the sustainable and balanced development of ecological environment protection along the Yellow River Urban Belt in Ningxia. Based on the theory of water resources ecological footprint and carbon footprint, the carbon footprint, water resources ecological footprint and their spatiotemporal change trend of the four central cities along the Yellow River Urban Belt in Ningxia were calculated and analyzed from the perspective of spatiotemporal distribution differences and water-carbon correlation characteristics. The results show that a carbon emission and water ecological pressure region has formed, with Wuzhong and Yinchuan as the center of gravity, which overlaps with the highly developed region in the belt; however, due to the different industrial structure and resource conditions, the correlation between carbon emissions and water resources in different regions is significantly differentiated, among which the correlation between water quality ecological footprint and carbon footprint is more significant, showing the regional imbalance of water, carbon, environment and industry development.