[oooyay]

> Most municipal water supplies are safer than the piping systems or the private wells.

I used to work in municipal water software and I don't think this statement can be said broadly. It helps to segregate discussion of water into segments:

- Water extraction and storage health

- Water mainline delivery health

- Water lateral/service line health

Extraction and storage are usually pretty good across the board. Mainline can vary and lateral/service line varies highly in quality.

Mainline health usually comes down to maintaining pressure and flow, especially at the end of a service area. In some cities you'll see them dump water from the hydrant, other cities don't have such good hygiene (and stagnant water is dangerous). Service lines have historically been considered on the owner to deal with; there's now federal funding to fight things line lead service lines (of which there are still huge amounts). Service lines do impact overall water health though, as not every water meter or mainline connection has backflow prevention.