@McMongoose @j @djsumdog I know a lot of utility workers. The plant that treats the water needs constant maintenance, lots of electricity and the chemicals needed to clean and decontaminate the water. It's not particularly cheap, especially the salaries of the workers keeping it all running. So say all you want how the water is your right. Someone has to pay for it, and if the workers do not get paid, they will not show up for work and then nobody gets water.

That said, everybody should know how to turn their water on and off. After all, sometimes you need to change out a water heater or maybe a pipe starts leaking and needs repair. You should also know how to turn the gas on and off if you have that too. Had a job done at the house once where the city worker forgot to turn the gas back on afterwards. This was summertime so I didn't notice until winter came and I was wondering why my gas heater didn't work. The valve was locked with this weird device that I did not have the tool for. But I was able to get it open with one of my deep sockets that was just about the right size. They even sell the tools for that too.