en Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering پژوهشي Original Article <p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Background;</strong> Contamination of water and soil through non-point sources such as road runoff causes environmental concern. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of Zanjan &ndash; Chavarzagh road on the total organic carbon (TOC) content of sediments in tributaries and the river that lead to Taham Lake.<br> <strong>Methods; </strong>In tributaries and the river 69 soil and sediment samples were taken and the Total organic carbon (TOC) was measured according to Walkely-Black method. Also, Taham Dam Basin area and its hydrologic properties were calculated by Global Information System (GIS) software.<br> <strong>Results; </strong>Results showed that, TOC concentration has a significant negative relationship with the distance from the lake. TOC in soil samples taken from hillside of the road had significantly lower mean and median concentration ( median= 3262 , mean = 4083 &plusmn; 3461&nbsp; mg/kg) than the valley side ( median = 5324 , mean = 6178 &plusmn; 3980&nbsp; mg/kg). The check dams across the tributaries and the river have not been effective in the reduction of TOC in sediments.<br> <strong>Conclusion; </strong>Roads in the Taham Dam Basin, increases TOC content of soil and sediments in Taham dam basin. TOC moves toward Taham dam lake.</span></span></p> Total organic carbon,Taham dam,Catchment, Paved roads 202 212 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-53-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mazyar Peyda mazyarpeyda@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009351 10031947532846009351 Yes Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Mohammad Reza Mehrasbi zmehr@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009352 10031947532846009352 No Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Masoud Naderi masoodnaderi@ymail.com 10031947532846009353 10031947532846009353 No Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Koorosh Kamali drkamali@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009354 10031947532846009354 No Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Zanjan university of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Vahid Fallah Abadi Bluesky.vfa@gmail.com 10031947532846009355 10031947532846009355 No Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.