Abstract: The Three Gorges Project (TGP) is the largest hydroelectric project in the world, whose water environment safety concerns not only on the water supplies safety in the reservoir area, but also on the ecological security of the Yangtze river basin as well as the sustainable development in China. Based on the PSR (Pressure-State-Response) model, the classification assessment index system and quantitative method of water pollution potential risk for Three Gorges Reservoir was constructed, in which the risk sources, the risk receptor and the acceptability of regional environmental risk were considered. The quantitative potential risk zonation maps of water environment pollution at the county level was created with the geo-statistics method, namely the spatial autocorrelation analyzes and the optimized hot spot analysis. The results show that：1) Yunyang County had the largest number of risk sources, while Wanzhou District had the largest number of risk receptors. However, there are the most intensive highly risk sources and highly sensitive receptors in and near Chongqing main City as well as the lowest level of acceptability of regional environmental risk. 2) The statistic of risk sources and receptors of each county showed the clustered distribution patterns. The hot spots were concentrated in and near Chongqing main City located in the upstream of the reservoir area where the acceptability of regional environmental risk showed as cold spot. While the statistical values of other counties were more balanced where there were no focused hot or cold spots areas. 3)The high-risk areas were concentrated in Jiulongpo District, Yubei District, Shapingba District Yuzhong District and Nan'an District; and middle-risk areas were located in 7 Districts including Changshou District, Beipei District, Jiangbei District, Dadukou District, Fuling District, Shizhu County and Badong County; while the low-risk areas were mainly located in Jiangjin District and the lower and middle reaches of the study section. Finally, according to the distribution characteristics of potential water pollution risks in different regions, the corresponding measures were proposed, which included the optimal disposition of industry, the alert and response capability and the technology upgrades of industrial sewage.