Objectives To provide reliable data base for project result evaluation by the investigation of water quality of rural water improvement projects in Xinxiang city, and thus protect the rural drinking water safety.

Methods 526 water samples were collected from 263 wells and determined in accordance with the Standard Examination Method for Drinking Water (GB/T 5750-2006) in 8 counties(districts) of Xinxiang city in 2017, and evaluated on the basis of the Standards for Drinking Water Quality (GB 5749-2006).

Results A total of 526 deep well water samples were determined and 185 samples qualified, in which, 272 samples were in dry season with 84 samples qualified, and 254 samples were in wet season with 101 samples qualified. At present, the qualified rate is 35.2% with 30.1% in wet season and 40.1% in dry season, which mainly presented as total numbers of colony exceeding the standard value, high fluoride water, brackish water, and high arsenic water. The determination results also showed that, the overall qualified rate of rural water improvement could be ranked as Huixian city > Yuanyang county > Weihui city > Huojia county > Xinxiang county > Yanjin county=Changyuan county > Fengqiu county (P < 0.05).

Conclusions The qualified rate of rural water improvement projects in Xinxiang city was low with many cases of total number of colonies exceeding the standard value, the microbial pollution existed in water quality.