Abstract: To assess the risk of water shortage in Xiangyang City, a water shortage risk assessment index system was constructed using the principal component analysis based on the risk assessment theory. The reason of water shortage, influencing factors and changing tendency were analyzed. The results showed that water shortage risk in Xiangyang was increasingly serious, the urban areas of Xiangyang, Xiangzhou District, Zaoyang City, Yicheng City, Laohekou City were seriously short of water resource, which was consistent with the results obtained from the principal component analysis. Therefore, the method using in this study is feasible and can provide a reliable conclusion.