Objectives To understand the current state of rural central water supply in Nanyang, and provide scientific evidence for improving the safety of rural drinking water.

Methods Selecting 230 central water supply sites of the Rural Central Water Supply Project in Nanyang and monitoring the quality of water during the dry and wet seasons in 2011. The detected data were analyzed and assessed.

Results In 230 sites of the project, the main water source was underground water from deep well, the qualified rate of 920 water samples was 57.72%, the quality of water in dry season was better than that in wet season, underground water was better than surface water, completely treated water or water treated only by disinfectants was better than the water treated only by precipitation, filtration or untreated. The qualified rate for the total counts of coli form was 69.35%, for the total number of colonies was 84.24% and for residual disinfectants was 39.94%.

Conclusions The construction and management of sites in the Rural Central Water Supply Project in Nanyang were insufficient, the qualified rate of water samples was low, the main unqualified indices were residual disinfectants and microbiological indices. Certain hidden dangers were existed, construction and management should be strengthened in order to protect the safety of drinking water in rural areas.