Water resources ecological footprint can reflect the pressure of human development on natural water resources. Clarifying water resources carrying state in the basin can provide decision-making basis for ecological environment protection, economic planning and scientific management of water resources, and it is also beneficial for promoting the construction of ecological civilization and high-quality development in the basin. Taking the Qinhe River Basin as an example, with the help of the water resources ecological footprint model, we calculated the water resources ecological footprint of each sub-basin based on the output of the SWAT model, and then evaluated the water resources carrying state of the basin. The results show that the average water resources in the Qinhe River Basin from 2010 to 2016 was 6.17×108 m3, which was mainly affected by precipitation. The water resources ecological stress index in all sub-basins was in excess of 1, indicating that the water resources in the basin was in an unsupportable state and the conflict of water resources supply and demand was prominent. Although the water resources carrying state had improved from 2010 to 2016, it was still in an unsustainable state. The research results can provide some reference for the scientific management of water resources in the Qinhe River Basin, and provide new ideas for calculating the water resources ecological footprint in other basins.