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Residential water use (RWU) is directly linked with the health of the general public and constitutes well over half of the total municipal water use in many countries. Because RWU is the most important component of municipal water use, it is always being given the top priority in municipal water supply and planning. But little is known about RWU in developing economies, especially in the Chinese context. In order to obtain the determinants of water use and consumption, empirical study is widely pursued. In a transition economy, rapidly changing socioeconomic conditions profoundly alter household water use in Beijing and Tianjin. A social survey on urban household water use and consumption is judged as a necessary starting point to an efficient municipal water planning and management in the two cities. A total of 806 in-house interviews were completed in Beijing and Tianjin by using stratified sampling method based on the predominant housing typologies. A multivariate analysis has also been performed in order to reveal the structured relationship between the water use and consumption and postulated explanatory variables in various urban households. For the first time, this empirical study will bridge the information gaps regarding urban household water use patterns and compositions, household water amenities and facilities, household water using habits and behaviors, household water perceptions and environmental attitudes as well as a household''s capacity and willingness to respond to water conservation policy in different housing typologies in the Chinese context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]