The aim of this study was to explore the distribution of Salmonella species in a man-made river and their antimicrobial resistance and provide knowledge for the prevention and control of foodborne diseases.Methods River water samples were processed including centrifugation concentration, enrichment with buffered peptone water, selective cultivation with selenite-cystine broth and chromogenic plate. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using disc diffusion method. β-lactam resistance genes and intI1 gene were tested using PCR. Results From January 2014 to October 2015, a total of 105 Salmonella isolates of 12 different serovars were recovered from 48 river water samples. The most frequent isolated serovars were typhimurium (n=26), Derby (n=14), Rissen (n=8), enteritidis (n=4), Agona (n=4), Stanley (n=4) and Agama (n=4). Other 41 strains were other serovars and untypables. Overall, about 66.7% strains were resistant to at least 1 antimicrobial drug. The antimicrobial resistance rates were as following:ampicillin (53.3%), tetracycline (42.9%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (32.4%), gentamicin (11.4%), ciprofloxacin (4.8%), cefotaxime (4.8%), and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (4.8%). Four types of β-lactam resistance genes were detected, including TEM (n=52), OXA (n=6) and CTX-M (n=3). Up to 58.1% (n=61) of 105 strains were positive for class-1 integron.Conclusion High occurrence of Salmonella contamination and high level of antimicrobial resistance were detected in a man-made river. It was noteworthy that some serovars were important foodborne pathogens. These strains showed high level of antimicrobial resistance and carried several resistance genes. This situation called for future attention about the risk caused by the widespread of resistant Salmonella species in aquatic environment.