The use of polluted water bodies for recreation poses a risk of infectious diseases. This fact necessitates the need to take into account bacteriological indicators to determine the danger of recreational water use. The aim of the article is to develop a new method for assessing the potential risk to population health during recreational water use. A new method for assessing the potential risk to population health during recreational water use has been proposed, which combines the identification of potential risk according to chemicals and bacteriological indicators. A new classification of water hazard levels according to the values of risk to population health has been developed. The value of the potential risk to the population health during the recreational use of 6 beaches in the urbanized territories of the city of Kharkiv and its suburbs (Ukraine) was obtained. It is established that bacteriological contamination has the probability of a very large impact on public health (hazard class 5). To compare the methods of assessing the risk to population health during recreational water use, the hazard index (NI) was determined according to the chemical indicators of the quality of water bodies in the city of Kharkiv. The use of the assessment of the potential risk to population health for the environmental regulation of the discharge of pollutants into a water body with wastewater is justified.