In order to identify the health status of rivers and reveal the causes of river damage, index systems including 29 river health assessment index in 5 aspects were established based on the task of river chief system. The evaluation criteria and weights of the index systems were determined and a river health assessment model was proposed, which was applied to the Xining section inthe main stream of the Huangshui River. The results show that for the rule hierarchy, the water resources protection index is 60 points, water environment management indexis 65 points, water ecological restoration indexis 54 points, water pollution prevention indexis 35 points, water coastline management indexis 63 points. The Xining section in the main stream of the Huangshui River health index is 56 points, and the evaluation level is Ⅲ, belonging to the sub-health level and reaches the yellow warning. The river chief should organize to protect, repair, manage and control the river section to a certain extent.