Many major problems faced by ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin are closely related to the shortage of water resources.Firstly, this paper analyzed the major problems faced by the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin from four aspects: flood risk is still the biggest threat to the basin, the fragile ecological environment of the basin, the severe situation of water resources security, and the insufficient high-quality development of the basin. Then, this paper discussed the possible profound impact of these major issues and the internal relationship between these major problems and the shortage of water resources.In the end, this paper analyzed the current situation of water resources shortage and limited water-saving potential in the Yellow River Basin, and pointed out that building a large water network of the Yellow River is a fundamental solution, and discussed the specific path of constructing the Yellow River’s large water network.