Abstract: Due to the influence of agricultural production and industrial activities, the soil environment quality around the drinking water source has attracted more attention. In this study, the soil environment quality and sediment around a typical drinking water source in Hunan Province were studied. Thirteen sampling points and four sediment samples were set up in the first and second level water source protection areas in the drinking water source by grid method and field survey. The physical and chemical properties of soil samples were measured and heavy metals pollution status associated with potential ecological risk were evaluated. Results showed that the quality of soil surrounding the drinking water source was good. The average content of heavy metals such as Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), and Nickel (Ni) in soil was reached lower than the national standard pollution risk value (GB 15618-2018). However, the average content of heavy metals such as Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), and Zinc (Zn) was reached at 0.86 mg/kg, 509.5 mg/kg, and 215.8 mg/kg, respectively, which exceeded the national standard. Especially the average value of Cd and Pb were 2.71 and 6.74 times higher than the national standard value respectively. The results of single factor pollution index showed that Cd and Pb in soil were moderately and severely polluted respectively. Single factor pollution index showed that Cd and Pb were moderately and severely polluted in the sample sites, respectively. Nemerow multi-factor pollution index illustrated that 11.7% of the sample sites were moderately polluted by heavy metals and 58.8% were heavily polluted by heavy metals. The potential ecological risk index (RI) in the sample sites ranged from 153.75 to 508.44, with 76.5% at medium ecological risk level and 23.5% at strong ecological risk levels. Accordingly, the content of some heavy metals such as Cd and Pb in the soil around drinking water sources exceeded the national standard, and the potential ecological risk was moderate. Therefore, close attention should be paid to the ecological protection of soil environment around drinking water sources to avoid the potential ecological risk of heavy metals in the soil.