Objective To investigate the drinking water types of residents in Tianjin, China, to provide localized exposure pathways for health risk assessment of drinking water, and to provide directions for drinking water health education and intervention.

Methods A face-to-face questionnaire survey was conducted in Tianjin to investigate the types of drinking water and the use of household water purification equipment among residents and obtain the pathways of drinking water exposure in 2022.

Results The survey was conducted among 3 202 residents, and 3 201 valid questionnaires were collected, with a valid rate of 99.97%. Among these residents, 60.61% had one type of drinking water, while 39.39% had multiple types of drinking water. Tap water (41.02%) and household filtered water (40.83%) were the main types of drinking water. There were significant differences in the types of drinking water between the populations of different regions, ages, education levels, and household per capita incomes (P < 0.05). The people in urban areas preferred drinking water filtered by household water purifiers (49.39%), while those in rural areas preferred drinking bottled water (43.43%). Children and adolescents (43.36%) and adults (42.64%) preferred drinking water filtered by household water purifiers, and the elderly preferred to drink tap water (54.08%). The respondents with an education level of primary school or below (49.87%), junior high school (44.88%), and high school/technical school (47.40%) preferred drinking tap water, while college students (42.38%), undergraduate students (56.17%), and graduate students or above (55.17%) preferred drinking water filtered by household water purifiers. For the group of respondents with a household annual per capita income of < 50 000 yuan, 45.59% preferred drinking tap water, and for the other groups, 42.92%-75.44% preferred drinking water filtered by household water purifiers. Unreasonable use of household water purification equipment was observed in 9.03% of the residents in Tianjin.

Conclusion Tap water and household filtered water are the main types of drinking water among residents in Tianjin, and during human health risk assessment for drinking water, different types of drinking water should be selected as exposure pathways according to different situations. Health education on drinking water should be strengthened among residents in Tianjin, in order to guide them to use water purification equipment correctly.