I inspect buildings in Detroit all the time with straight pipe instead of water meters. One was an apartment building with 20 units, and it had been like that for at least 10 years. Some cities are better at tracking water use than others. A friend told me he removed his water meter and put in a straight pipe to fill his swimming pool. A few days later someone from the city water department was knocking on his front door and wanted to check the water meter.
I enjoyed it. For the electrical panel seeing all those copper pieces to bypass blowing fuses. A fire waiting to happen. All someone has to do is plug stuff in and draw well over 15-20 amps.
