Abstract: At present, environmental protection work in China places great emphasis on protecting drinking water sources and ensuring safe drinking water. By using the methods and notions of surface water source assessment in USA as a reference, and according to characteristics of drinking water sources of C City, the migration potential for contaminants, contaminant hazard, potential volume and release likelihood of 136 drinking water sources were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to assess their pollution risks. The results showed that the risk rating of five water sources was high; all of these had common characteristics such as higher soil availability, larger area of agriculture, more point pollution sources and greater pollution. Therefore, these five water sources should be managed with priority. The risk assessment results were consistent with the characteristics of contaminant sources in protected areas of source water, which indicates that strengthening pollution prevention and control is an effective way toprotect water sources from contamination.