Dynamic assessment and influencing factors analysis of water environmental carrying capacity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

•A comprehensive method was used to explore the improvement path of water environmental carrying capacity (WECC) from both subsystem and index levels.•WECC in the YREB was generally low without upward trend and showed no spatial autocorrelation.•WECC of the downstream in the YREB was higher than that of upstream and midstream.•Coupling coordination among subsystems is a necessary condition for higher WECC.•Proportion of ecological environment water consumption has the largest restriction on WECC improvement in the YREB.