> In the U.S. we expect to be able to drink the water that comes from the tap, cutting off entire parts of a city for a day or more from the water supply is largely unheard of
The population of Flint might disagree, although technically that water kept running while poisoning its population.
No; the people in Flint would entirely agree that they expected to be able to drink their water - that's why it was such an outrage that they couldn't.
On the other hand, the fact Puri, in Odisha, got safe drinking water from the tap was a major news story last year - since it was the first city in India to have that, and even just general availability of piped water at all is uncertain for many in India - many, many people get water delivered by road on tankers.
The population of Flint might disagree, although technically that water kept running while poisoning its population.