I work in the water and wastewater industry so I understand why municipalities have to bill residents for the service, as it's very costly to treat and distribute water, maintain the infrastructure necessary for the process, pay people who operate the water and wastewater treatment plants, buy the chemicals & equipment involved, etc. Many people think their property taxes pay for this, but that's not true. Maybe in a rare exception, but overall the utility bill you pay is what goes towards maintaining the service.

One of the big issues I used to hear all the time when I was a mfg rep for treatment equipment - the utilities make money that could be put back into the facilities to maintain and upgrade the service, but that money is frequently diverted to other things. I distinctly remember one wastewater superintendent in KY who was livid that his town had redirected a bunch of money from the sewer treatment plant to a fund to build a new park...because there was an upcoming election and parks are seen, whereas no one ever thinks about what happens after they flush the toilet. That is until they flush the toilet and things go wrong.

I have no issues with the normal operation of the way water and sewer is provided and billed for and so on...but I have major issues with people that do things to contaminate our groundwater and then basically walk away with a slap on the wrist. I will never understand how people put money before something that actually sustains life. I mean regardless of where we are in the world we're all drinking water and invariably there is some entity jeopardizing that water, by doing things like fracking, in the name of profit.

*Edit - typo