It must be possible, but probably frequency dependent to some extent.
The water meter for my house is "underground", and the water company simply drives around the streets to get readings.
The meter itself is not much bigger than an orange, so no extensive external antenna.
I say "underground" because it's about 1 meter down in a bit of tube with a little hatch on top, so not buried, but not exactly out in the open either. This is on the footpath so the hatch is surrounded by asphalt (in this case), and 5-10 metres from the road itself.
I don't know what frequency it uses.