The application of management systems can solve the manage problems and improve the potable water safety for rural potable water treatment plants. The systems in Zhejiang province, China are studied and the system grading method is proposed as attendance management (G₁), basic automatic management (G₂), quantity-based automatic management (G₃), quality-based intelligent management (G₄), quality-based & feedback controlled intelligent management (G₅). G3 to G5 systems can achieve remote control and G4, G5 systems can guarantee the finished water quality theoretically. The application performance of the management systems shows G₅ system has the lowest allocated annual cost as 11500 RMB per year when used to service life as 5 years (23.37% of G₁ system). By using G₅ system, the finished water turbidity is below 0.8 NTU, pH is between 7.6 to 8.2, and the qualification rate of residual chlorine is above 92.5%, which performances better than G₃ system with finished water turbidity below 9.7 NTU, pH between 7.3 to 8.2, and the qualification rate of residual chlorine above 88.7%. G₅ system is recommended when the plant is hard to be staffed or the inlet water quality is not good. G₃ system is recommended when the inlet water quality is good or the purchase budget is limited.