Could the explanation be simpler? Effects of gas pipeline and
water main breaks tend to be localized because they supply
commodity goods, and there is local storage (and, especially in
case of water, local supplies) of those. Hence such breaks
affect fewer people. The gas supply to my kitchen does not
depend on maintenance of uniform pressure in all the gas pipelines
from the well off the shore of Louisiana all the way to New Jersey;
my supplier has enough gas stored around here to keep pumping for
quite a while even if a pipeline in Kentucky is cut. On the other
hand, when a fiber gets cut in Ohio, and I am trying to get some
bits from California, it does not help me to know that somebody
in Pennsylvania has terabits on her server that she is willing
to ship to me.
Andrew