Well, lovely... I lost a rather lengthy reply again.
Key points are that my local government controls the water here. Due to blunders on their part regarding bookkeeping and keeping track of our account information, and a recent water main break, we had a bill that was about 3 times our usual. A month or so prior to the main breaking we were given a new account number. They seem to have lost historical data related to our meter readings, so we had to pay for sewage (the bulk of the water bills), which we will get back once they can see our typical usage. Additionally, the water quality is extremely inconsistent. In the past I have had wells with fairly consistent test results, and I intend to go with wells in the future, and supplement that with collected rain water, and reusing grey water (when I have a house built).
Recent events reminded me how the local government here seems to have the inability to maintain roads if there is snow (an inch or two!) or wet weather and temperatures drop below freezing. I have lived in this area for a few years, and it is the same every year. Yes, I am planning on relocating. There are some additional details that make the winter roads stories funny to some, but they have little value in this conversation, but I would love to share some.
My reason for replying to the water comment was that I dont see how if some governments can't handle things that are probably widely agreed to fall into very basic needs that they should be responsible for they can be expected to perform better with additional responsibilities.