Using Håkanson potential ecological risk index, the paper assesses heavy metal risk levels in northern parts of Haihe River basin based on 39 sampling sites. The results indicate that, the concentrations of Cu, Zn, Cd, and Cr in Haihe River basin are higher than the background values of heavy metals in China mainland, while the concentration of Pb is close to the background value in China mainland. Based on the potential ecological risk index for single heavy metal, the risk of Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr belongs to the "slight" level, while Cd has various risk levels at different sampling sites. Generally, the risk order of the heavy metals is Cd > Pb > Cu > Cr > Zn. According to Håkanson potential ecological risk index, 32 monitoring sites belong to "slight" level, 5 sampling sites belong to "middle" level, and 2 monitoring sites belong to "very strong" level. The most polluted sites are Tang River and Dashi River of Beijing, Juma River in Baoding. Therefore, these rivers should be taken more considerations in the river management.