I recently noticed that I have ground wires attached to metal water pipes in my home, as shown in the following image.
The area marked A is where the water service enters the home with that blue handled valve being the main shut off.
The area marked B shows two exposed wires (assumed grounds) that are secured to the pipe which is the water heater's outgoing pipe.
Am I incorrect in thinking that the grounds should be secured to the other pipe, the one that brings water service into the home?
Best Answer
Grounding, bonding, water pipes, and your situation
The old-school way of grounding a house to the cold water pipe performed two functions, not just one:
Nowadays, Code requires us put in a dedicated electrode (ground rods or an Ufer for most folks) to deal with problem 1, and that's what you can do here -- running 6AWG copper from the main panel (optionally through a conduit) to a pair of ground rods spaced 8' apart and driven 8' into the ground will get you a serviceable grounding electrode in most areas.
You will still need to move the existing grounding/bonding wire from the hot pipe to the cold pipe and add a 6AWG jumper from the cold pipe to the hot pipe, though -- this will ensure that your piping is properly bonded to the electrical system so that you don't wind up with a shocking tub spout because the dishwasher shorted out.