In the past three decades, China has built more than 87 000 dams with a storage capacity of ≈6560 km3 and the total surface area of inland water has increased by 6672 km2. Leaching of N from fertilized soils to rivers is the main source of N pollution in China, but the exposure of a growing inland water area to direct atmospheric N deposition and N leaching caused by N deposition on the terrestrial ecosystem, together with increased N deposition and decreased N flow, also tends to raise N concentrations in most inland waters. The contribution of this previously ignored source of N deposition to freshwaters is estimated in this study, as well as mitigation strategies. The results show that the annual amounts of N depositions ranged from 4.9 to 16.6 kg · ha-1 · yr-1 in the 1990s to exceeding 20 kg · ha-1 · yr-1 in the 2010s over most of regions in China, so the total mass of ΔN (the net contribution of N deposition to the increase in N concentration) for lakes, rivers and reservoirs change from 122.26 Gg N · yr-1 in the 1990s to 237.75 Gg N · yr-1 in the 2010s. It is suggested that reducing the N deposition from various sources, shortening the water-retention time in dams and decreasing the degree of regulation for rivers are three main measures for preventing a continuous increase in the N-deposition pollution to inland water in China.