Dunno about up north, but time was, here in the south we too had the civilised way of funding water from rates. Then heartless hard-of-thinking politicians allowed business to force meters on everyone whether they liked it, or objected to the immoral change, or not. Customers/voters have zero importance.
However when we were all in it together, funding it by the water rates kitty, clearly we all felt responsible to use as little as possible when things seemed difficult. Now, of course, we pay for what we, personally, use, and so are entitled to use as much as we like, and the water company, with all it's meters, have all the responsibility to ensure they have sufficient supply.