The distributions of fluorescent whitening agents (FWA) in the water of the Yasu River and their tributaries flowing into Lake Biwa (Japan) were surveyed on winter and summer. The FWA fluxes had linear correlation with the corrected resident population in catchments of the tributaries of Yasu River. Therefore, the FWAs in the rivers come from domestic wastewater, and those fluxes in the tributaries depended on the human population of their catchments. As an application of the FWA indicating domestic wastewater, we could assess seasonal changes in the sources of dissolved organic matter in the tributaries.