Actually, it is not unusual for us to carry boiled or purified water from home when we are out and about, and this is relatively easy to do. This is definitely a much safer option.

I have heard of people who had the runs and diarrhoea for weeks, which their doctors told them was due to their long-term drinking of tap water without boiling it first.

I remember having a funny feeling in the stomach after drinking water directly from the tap while I was in Primary Three or so. After that, my mother advised me against drinking water this way, for health and safety’s sake. And in this regard, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Why take a risk drinking tap water at all, if you have other, more easily available and safer alternatives in “Asia’s world city”?

Eunice Li, Shanghai