Abstract: Drinking water intake rate is a key parameter to evaluate human exposure and risk to water pollutants.However,surveys on drinking water-related exposure factors are still lacking,and no exposure factor handbook has been published in China.In this study,direct drinking water intake rate and indirect drinking water intake rate from food in summer and autumn were investigated using questionnaire surveys and real measurement methods in 2500 selected subjects from urban and rural districts in a typical area of northern China,and compared with the data from other countries.The research results indicate that average drinking water intake rates for male,female and all subjects were 2852.8,2586.4 and 2720.5 mL/d,respectively.The proportion of indirect average intake rates for all subjects out of total intake rate was about 62.4%,which is higher than that of the direct intake rate.The direct intake rates are 36.0% and 54.0% higher than those in USA and Japan,respectively.Indirect water intake rates and the difference between urban and rural people should be taken into account in terms of the risk assessment of drinking water.Using exposure factors from other countries will likely cause huge uncertainties in human risk assessment.