Quotable

"I just want to know whether I can drink the tap water since July 1."

Cheng Yuan, a resident of Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, said. He and Li Chunhua, also a Nanjing resident, on Sunday mailed 35 application forms to 35 water companies at 32 large cities across the country to ask for water quality monitoring data, the first day that a new national drinking water hygienic standard was carried out. If all 106 indicators of the new standard are met, tap water can be drunk directly. According to government information disclosure regulations, the 35 companies should reply within 15 days after receiving the application.