In the province of Haut Katanga, the quality of waterways is particularly threatened by mining activities that do not take into account the environmental protection criteria recently introduced through Congolese mining legislation. The objective of this study is to analyze the level of pollution in the water of rivers and Lake Tshangalele, which is rich in fish consumed by local populations in the upper part of the Lufira River basin, near the city of Likasi in the province of Haut Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in order to assess the level of risk and exposure faced by these aquatic ecosystems and their resources. The concentrations of ten heavy metals (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn) were measured in river and lake water using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). Water pollution indices based on ETM concentrations were calculated using the weighted arithmetic method. The results obtained show that in terms of contamination levels, As (Kapulande ˃ Kapemba ˃ Lake Tshangalele), Cd (Kapemba ˃ Lufira 2), Co (Kapulande ˃ Panda 2 ˃ Lufira), Cr (Lufira ˃ Kapamba ˃ Kapulande), Cu (Kapulande ˃ Tshangalele), Mn (Kapulande ˃ Panda 2 ˃ Kapemba ˃ Lufira 2 ˃ Tshagalele), Ni (Lufira ˃ Buluo), Pb (Kapulande ˃ CLP ˃ Panda), Se (Kapulande ˃ Panda 3 ˃ Kapemba) and Zinc (Kapulande ˃ Tshangalele) show very high contamination levels with a very significant statistical difference (p < 0.05) compared to WHO standards for drinking water and good ecological quality. Based on the Pollution Load Index (PLI), it can be seen that the water in the Kapulande River (PLI = 31.9) is highly polluted compared to that of the Kapemba (PLI = 9.2), Lufira 2 (PLI = 5), Buluo, and Lufira 1 rivers, with PLI values of 4.7 respectively, followed by Panda 2 (PLI = 3.4) and Lake Tshangalele (PLI = 13.3), compared to the PLI of other rivers where pollution was considered to be low. Taking into account the ecological, social, and economic roles of the Lufira basin, which has been designated a Ramsar Site since 2017, and in view of the chemical and ecotoxicological risks to the aquatic ecosystems surveyed and their resources, as well as to the population exposed to them, appropriate measures must be taken to combat the degradation of these environments.