Objective This study is to know the current sanitary conditions of rural drinking water in Changping District of Beijing and the factors affecting them.

Methods Survey on the current sanitary conditions of drinking water in 40 rural plants in Changping district has been conducted, and the water has been collected and analyzed as well.

Results In Changping district, 7.5% of the water plants have not built the pumping houses at water sources; 45.0% of the rural water plants have been equipped with water disinfection equipments; 57.5% of the water plants have water storage tanks or other storage facilities; 90% of the water plants have their own management staff in charge of drinking water sanitation, but 97.5% of the water plants have no records on water disinfection, and 80.0% of the water plants have not got their health license/certificate; 70% of the water plants have no plants design chart and the chart for drinking water distribution pipeline; among the 160 water samples collected, only 47.50% have reached the drinking water quality standard value, the unquality indexes mainly lie on Faucal coli form and E. coli.

Conclusions Disinfection is the critical measure to improve drinking water quality in Changping. There are risks in water treatment and distribution system, data in rural water plant is not kept properly. Water management knowledge should be strengthened for water plant staff.