The assessment of water carrying capacity is an important basis for resolving the contradiction between economic growth and water ecology protection and promoting sustainable development. In this study, a water carrying capacity comprehensive evaluation framework is proposed through integrating the entropy weight method and Taguchi design method. The framework can not only holistically assess the carrying capacity of water resources, environment and ecology, but also analyze important influence indicators. The framework is then applied to Ordos for the assessment of water carrying capacity and identification of impact indicators, which includes 18 water resource indicators, 17 water environment indicators and 16 water ecology indicators. The main findings are as follows: (i) Water environment carrying capacity (WEN) rose significantly in the middle and late periods (2015–2022), alongside Zhungeer Banner (ZGE) and Yijinhuoluo Banner (YJHL) reaching the highest values (0.94 and 0.84); (ii) Water resources carrying capacity (WRE) and water ecologic carrying capacity (WEC) fluctuated after initial growth, and only two regions each achieved increases during 2020–2022; (iii) WRE was mainly influenced by the amount of surface and underground water supply and per capita water resources, WEN was significantly affected by the cost and capacity of industrial wastewater treatment, while the ecological water use rate and the green coverage rate in built-up areas were important indicators of WEC.