I demur to your qualifications. It has always been my understanding. In fact, I understood that when the cable is ran from the meter to a clamp on the water, then to the gas, that the cable had to be looped around the clamp terminal rather than using 2 lengths.
But I am always prepared to accept that I can be wrong.
Nothing wrong with that at all.
May well be quicker as well. And it prevents any chance of any high resistance contacts at intermediate earthing points.
I wonder how many mains water pipes are still made of metal nowadays?