Eigenvector wrote:
Top posted for closure

I really appreciate the response for this. I wasn't sure why that ground
wire was there so I figure I'd better ask before moving it. I can leave it
in its current position, bonded to the pipes, as the pipes are bonded to the
panel ground, this would make the phone ground the shortest it can be -
otherwise I'd have to route the phone ground wire to the other side of my
house.

Before plastic pipe, that's the way grounding was done. Your
installation is grandfathered. While using the interior metal water
pipe as a grounding conductor is no longer permitted by NEC today, even
for telephone or cable, as long as nobody comes along and replaces the
interior metal pipe with plastic without jumpering it, you're OK.
Check to make sure the water meter is jumpered and also the hot to cold
at the water heater. In fact, there are still a lot of houses where
the electric service grounding was done the same way as your phone
grounding. The NEC restrictions against using interior water pipes for
grounding applies to Residential only, because of the availability and
common use of plastic pipe and popularity of DIY. Industrial and
Commercial electric services are still permitted to this day to use
interior metal water pipes as a grounding electrode conductor for an
electric service.