Objective To understand the microbial pollution status of drinking water in rural areas of Zhumadian City,and to provide evidences for formulating water quality improvement strategies. Methods The detection results of water samples in Zhumadian city from 2015 to 2019 were collected.The total number of colonies,total coliforms and heat-resistant coliforms were analyzed and evaluated by the national standard of drinking water. Results A total of 3538 water samples were detected from 2015 to 2019.There was an increasing trend year by year for the qualification rate of total bacterial count (χ²_trend =12.370,P＜0.001),total coliform bacteria (χ²_trend =5.089,P =0.024) and microbial comprehensive index (χ²_trend =14.020,P＜0.001).There was no significant difference in microbial indexes among different water supply methods and different water periods.The comprehensive qualified rate of water samples from deep wells was the highest (86.18%),followed by reservoir water (82.61%),shallow well water (65.66%) and stream water (58.33%),which were statically significant(χ²=57.422,P＜0.001).The qualification rate of total bacterial count and microbial comprehensive index in factory water was significantly higher than that in terminal water (χ²=18.258,P＜0.001;χ² =19.513,P＜0.001). Conclusion The qualified rate of microbial indicators of drinking water in rural areas of Zhumadian City increased year by year from 2015 to 2019,but the microbial indicators of terminal water needed to be further improved.