Abstract: The combination of machine learning and optimization algorithms has been widely applied in the recognition of mine water inrush sources. However, the data of water inrush samples is stochastic and the optimization algorithm is prone to getting stuck in local optima. Further research is needed to improve the model's generalization capability and jump out of local optima. In order to solve the above problems, an improved sparrow search algorithm (SSA) is proposed to optimize the BP neural network model for quantitative recognition of mine water inrush sources. Taking Yangcheng Coal Mine of Luneng Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd. as the research object, the hydrochemical characteristics of the coal mine water sample are analyzed through conventional ion concentration analysis and Piper three line diagram. It is preliminarily determined that the mine water comes from the Ordovician limestone aquifer and the three limestone aquifers. The Na⁺+K⁺ concentration, Ca²⁺ concentration, Mg²⁺ concentration, \mathrmHCO_3^- concentration, \mathrmSO^2-_4 concentration, Cl⁻ concentration, mineralization degree, total hardness, and pH value are determined as the recognition indicators for water inrush source. The mine water inrush source recognition model is established based on an improved SSA-BP neural network. Firstly, the SSA parameters are set. Sine chaotic mapping is introduced to evenly distribute the sparrow population. Secondly, the sparrow population is updated by calculating fitness values, and a random walk strategy is introduced to perturb the current optimal individual. If the termination condition is met, the optimal BP neural network weight and threshold are obtained. Finally, based on the constructed BP neural network, the recognition results are output. The research results indicate the following points. ① The improved SSA-BP model has an recognition accuracy of 95.6% in the training set and 100% in the testing set. ② The comparison results of the improved SSA-BP neural network model with the BP neural network model and SSA-BP neural network model show that the BP neural network model has a misjudgment rate of 5/18, the SSA-BP neural network model has a misjudgment rate of 2/18, and the improved SSA-BP neural network model has a misjudgment rate of 0. After 10 iterations, it tends to stabilize and has the smallest error difference from the set target. The initial fitness value is the best, and the recognition results have high credibility. ③ Five sets of mine water samples from Yangcheng Coal Mine are inputted into the trained model as input layer data. The main sources of mine water samples are the Ordovician limestone aquifer, the three limestone aquifers, and the Shanxi formation aquifer. The results of model recognition are mutually confirmed with the conclusions of hydrochemical characteristic analysis, and precise segmentation is achieved.