I also reckon that by drinking from any pool of water, not a cauldron, should restore thirst, but have the same effect as rotten flesh. Therefore once you get a cauldron, you can drink without this effect. The fact you can't move cauldrons around and keep the water in them at the same time is fare, otherwise you'd have an infinite fresh water supply. Plus water bottles (which are already in the game) would be a great way for transporting fresh water. But I still reckon it should be in a separate game mode.
