Lake Xingyun faces the problems of worsening water pollution, accelerating eutrophication and damaged function of water body. This paper employs visual interpretation, overlay analysis, pollution footprint model and principal component analysis to analyze water quality changes as well as the pollution footprint and humanities driving force of the pollutants in the lake and rivers based on water quality data, statistical data on the society and economy, as well as remote sensing images. The results show that the water quality at Lake Xingyun is best in March and worst in September. During the period from 2005 to 2015, the water quality was best in 2008 but worst in 2014. From 2008 to 2014, the water quality got worsening and then reversed since 2015. In 2015, the pollution footprint of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution occupied 583.26, 705.88 and 494.11 km², respectively. The top four rivers with the most pollution footprint for the pollutants in the lake and river are listed as Dajie River, Eastern River, Yucun River and Western River, accounted for 66.21% of the total pollution footprint in Lake Xingyun. The land use in the four rivers with the highest degree of pollution can be classified as the paddy field, dry land or village. The first principal component (total population, planting area, rural population, fertilizer use amount, plastic sheeting use amount, large livestock stock amount) influencing the water quality of Lake Xingyun is related to the rural life and agricultural pollution. The second principal component (per capita GDP, firstly industry output value, secondary industry output value, tertiary industry output value) is connected with the social and economic development. Hence, the humanities driving force for water quality changes in Lake Xingyun can be classified as the rural life and agricultural pollution or social and economic development. The first principal component has a contribution rate of 84.389%, which means that it is the major driving force for water quality changes.