Abstract:  In order to clarify the status of urban water environment quality in the Yellow River Basin, 68 urban built-up areas in the basin were taken as the research objects, and the water environment quality and main pollution indicators of each city were analyzed; the discharge loads of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) from urban domestic sources, urban sources, and industrial sources in the basin were estimated, and the problems and causes of the urban water environment were analyzed. The results show that in recent years, the quality of water environment in the Yellow River Basin has been improved year by year, but the water quality of cross-border sections and tributary inlet sections has a high rate of non-compliance. The water environment quality of cities in the basin has significant differences, and the water environment quality of cities in the middle and lower reaches of the basin has outstanding problems. Urban domestic sources are the main source of pollution, while supporting water environment infrastructure lags behind, industrial enterprise pollution, urban surface pollution and other problems lead to outstanding urban water environment problems. Based on the characteristics of the urban water environment, countermeasures against urban domestic sources, surface sources and industrial pollution are proposed to provide reference for the improvement of urban water environment quality in the Yellow River Basin.