To confirm the effects of fruit-farmland area, water reservoir, and alluvial fan on nitrate load in short streams, we measured runoff and collected water samples at five or eight sites in each of four streams, Seto Inland Sea catchment. Nitrate load of the streams increased with increasing ratio of fruit-farmland area. At a downstream site of water reservoir, nitrate concentration showed a slight decrease. On the area widely domi- nated by alluvial fan, it assumed that groundwater pollution by nitrate-nitrogen is accelerated with groundwater recharge of stream water. It is necessary for conservation of water resources to consider function of these effects as well as river-groundwater mixing.