I don't see where much really changed except they don't trust water pipes as being a grounding electrode anymore. I agree back in the old days with solid metal water systems the water pipe was the current path when the neutral opened so breaking that pipe circuit might always present a danger.
These days the Ufer (concrete encased electrode) is rapidly becoming the "go to" grounding electrode and it is part of the footer inspection in Florida, to insure it will be "present".
The water line is still a parallel path to the transformer through the neighbor's house. the only thing that changed is that they renamed the "ground" wire as "bond" wire. If the overhead neutral is lost, the water meter becomes the return path. That problem was solved before I started in the trade in 75 and now we unsolved it.
Lets put it another way. Cut the overheat neutral and take the water meter out without a jumper. Does the guy working on the meter get a shock?
We aren't installing Ufer grounds. Where did that come from?
