Objectives To understand the basic running status of rural drinking water safety engineering projects and the main factors affecting water quality in Zaozhuang City to provide basis for decision-making on drinking water safety engineering and water quality improvement.

Methods The basic situation of all monitoring spots of the project was investigated in 2010-2012. Water samples were collected from the outlet of water supply plants and peripheral water pipes both in wet season and dry season. A total of 19 indexes were detected, including microbiological indicators, toxicological indicators, sensory attributes and general chemical indicators.

Results In 936 water samples collected from 234 spots and detected in 3 years, 562 of them were qualified. The total qualified rate was 60.4%. The qualified rate in dry season and wet season was 66.67% and 53.42% respectively (P less than 0.05). The qualified rate of water from the outlet of water supply plants and peripheral water pipes was 65.38% and 54.70% respectively (P less than 0.05). The unqualified items were Escherichia coli (33.01%), heat resistance (21.58%) and total bacterial counts (15.28%). The qualified rate in 2010, 2011 and 2012 was 51.88% 60.59% and 68.84%, respectively (P less than 0.05).

Conclusions The qualified rate of water in the rural drinking water safety project in Zaozhuang City was low. The major influencing factors were microbial indicators. It is important to enforce the protection of water sources and to strengthen the drinking water disinfection.