The Jinshui River, a tributary of the Hanjiang River, is an important region of water conservation for the Middle Route of South to North Water Transfer Project. However, water quality has been deteriorated in recent years, in particular nitrogen increasing pollution. In this study, the wet deposition of atmospheric nitrogen in the Jinshui watershed was investigated between Feb. 2012-Feb. 2013, and the corresponding contribution to the river N loading was calculated using N retention model. The results indicated that the volume-weighted concentration of dissolved total nitrogen (DTN) was 0.24-2.89 mg x L(-1), consisting of ammonium (NH(4+)-N) (42.8%), nitrate (NO3- N) (13.3%) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) (43.9%), which decreased with rainfall volume as a result of dilution. The wet deposition of atmospheric N was mainly from anthropogenic pollution and the flux was between 4.97-7.00 kg x (hm2 x a)(-1), dominated by seasonal rainfall, of which about 81% occurred in spring and summer and the flux in a decreasing order of upstream, downstream, and middlestream. The wet deposition contributed approximately 34,000-46,000 kg N to the river, accounting for only 5.05%-6.78% of the contribution by fertilizers, which was too small to be the main source of the river N loading.