The people who write the Canadian Electrical Code seem to think that if ground rods are installed on a service, all the electricity will take that path and none will follow a metallic water line that joins adjacent properties.
The result is that the common metallic water line that connects houses in a city will no longer be a path for electricity and only needs to be bonded near the panel with a #6 wire. CEC Rule 10-406(2)
The requirement to put a jumper across the water meter is gone.
If the neutral is grounded with rods, the wire to the water line is renamed from "ground" to "bond". The bond to the water line is still connected to the neutral at some point in the service at the house.
Here is an example of how difficult it is to get 10 ohm resistance on ground rods.
Grounding - Ground Resistance Measurement What do you think will happen if the power company neutral breaks? Will the electricity all follow the ground rods or will the piping become the ground path through the neighbours property, just like before?
