My family had a farm in the Eastern side of Washington State.
Water was supplied by a well, and therefore we had a "well house"
This was heated by a lightbulb in Winter. Temperatures would get down to 5 degrees for long periods of time.
The idea that someone would throw a warm bucket of water at it to keep it from freezing is funny to even think about.
We did provide some dry warmth to the water lines there.
Sometimes in the Seattle area, we've had six week cold snaps. In Snohomish county, the ground was frozen about two feet down. I remember smashing two pick handles one day plumbing for a ground work.
Half the crew was sent home for six weeks, and they kept me out there doing ground works. When things warmed up, the other plumbers wound up topping out a lot of my work.
We had 150 plumbers at that shop.
Cold weather ideas