We have lots of community water systems. Even when I lived in the sticks, ten pieces of property were on the same 500+ foot well. It wasn't much. I could run one rainbird type sprinkler at a time.
Irrigation districts offered better systems. Here, you are charged by the amount of land, whether you use it or not. That's why I don't pay for water at the big veggie garden - the owner considers it a tax and, with acres of irrigated alfalfa around it, my garden adds no additional charges. I guess he has never used over what is allowed on the flat rate. Easy peasy but you might be surprised that very few nearby property owners irrigate all of their ground.
I pay for the water at the little veggie garden, even paying for the property owner's garden water. It's never cost me $25 for a month.
That was the location where we didn't have the outdoor system set up for several weeks into a growing season once. I did some of that math to determine if carrying barrels of water from home would make sense. Nope! With just about 2,500 square feet of garden I'd be in some kind of water delivery business!! Need a bigger truck!
Steve