It was common in the US before electricity and water delivery into the house. I am 66 years old and no, I don't remember ever seeing such a thing.
same everywhere
I dont take electricty and plumbing for granted, though. My electricty comes from the grid and the water from catchment area in the hills. Some people dont have this and rely on their own tank water....but when it runs out they have to buy water!
its great, but needs to be maintained and designed properly.
Here we have hydropower, but our stormwater, sewerage and drainage systems in the city are getting old and too much pressure is being put on rivers and dams with more people than infrastructure can cope with. we rely on the rain a lot but without tree cover the water would just wash away...
its very sad to see creeks polluted such that you cant even swim or fish in them, especially after a big rain. I wish more care would be taken now because and in 50 years time its going to be really bad. if any of us have children or grandchildren they are going to suffer from our lack of care for the environment, You cant just up sticks any time and move to somewhere better.
Nature can repair the damage humans do, but it seems humans want to sabotage it and not respect the water.
anyway! sorry I just was musing...a lot of people arent aware of how precious water is and think someone else is looking after it. Well no, We need to be the ones looking after it, cos we know that we cant live without it. I hate to see water sold as a commodity, and people bottling it in throw away bottles, we were like. we can drink it from the tap but in some countries you cant even do that.