Abstract: Black and odorous phenomenon of river is the most intractable environmental problem in the construction of urban ecological civilization. In order to better understand the distribution and potential sources of heavy metals in black and odorous river in Wanjiang City (Wuhu), the black and odorous river in Baoxinghan was selected as the research object. Through the outdoor collection and indoor analysis combined with the modified potential ecological risk index (MRI) method, the contamination status of heavy metals in sediments is evaluated and the correlation analysis and principal component analysis is used to explain potential sources. The results show that: (1) In the river, the content of heavy metals presents the characteristics of Fe>Zn>Mn>Cr>Cu>Cd, which is significantly higher than the soil background value in Anhui Province and Cd is the most enriched among them. Except for Cd, the other five heavy metals all show the characteristic that their content in rainy season are higher than that in dry season. (2) Morphology studies show that heavy metals tend to be desorbed from the surface of particulate matters and released into the overlying water during the rainy season and the proportion of heavy metals in the residue state increases. (3) MRI results show that ecological risk of Cd pollution accounts for the vast majority of the totals (contribution rate> 90%), so the pollution of Cd should be focused to solve. (4) The source appointment results show that Zn, Cu and Cr are affected by surrounding industrial activities, Fe and Mn are mainly affected by the mixture of natural and industrial sources and Cd is most likely to be affected by regional agricultural non-point sources.