Norovirus are the most common cause of foodborne illness in developed countries. The viruses are transmitted by fecally contaminated waters, foods and by person to person spread. Numerous cases of norovirus outbrakes have been documented due to contaminated drikning water and recreational waters although their distribution in urban surface waters has not been widely studied. This study presents a preliminary survey of the prevalence of norovirus in urban surface waters in Iceland. Environmental water samples were collected from rivers and rivulets in the south of Iceland in the winters of 2011 and 2012. Norovirus in the samples were concentrated by adsorption/elution followed by molecular detection of genotypes GI and GII using Real-Time RT-PCR.Results reveal that the incidence of norovirus contamination was high with a seasonal trend towards reduced prevalence in the spring, as expected. Four out of ten locations measured positive for norovirus: Varmá in Hveragerði, Suðurá in Mosfellsdalur, Bugða in Kjós and Fossvogslækur. Nororivus was detected in Varmá at all sampling dates. No correlation was observed between numbers of fecal coliforms and presence of norovirus in the samples. The presence of norovirus in the samples demonstrates sewage contamination in these rivers, which could pose a public health risk. The detection of norovirus or enteric viruses could present a more reliable manner for assessing water quality as compared to the conventional use of bacterial indicators.