"Sam" wrote in message
...
Hi,

This morning we saw a man from the water company walking down the
street; at first we thought he was reading meters. Actually he lifted
the "manhole"[*] cover at the end of each drive and put a metal rod
down onto the pipe and listened to the other end of the rod. I am sure
I have heard something about water companies listening to pipes but I
can't remember where I heard this (tv or usenet?) and I can't remember
what the point of it was. We were too shy to ask him

It's a shame you didn't ask him. I asked one outside our house last year and
he was delighted to tell me all about it, he said it broke the monotony of
the job.

Why would he be listening to pipes? Is he listening for leaks?

Yes, as others have said.

Mary