diff --git a/Readme.md b/Readme.md
index 3fd0209bc..064e50a27 100644
--- a/Readme.md
+++ b/Readme.md
@@ -247,6 +247,40 @@ cannot be re-connected by design.
 This logic will also be part of connection pool support once I add that to this
 library.
 
+## Idle connections
+
+Connections emit `'drain'` events after they have finished all queued queries
+(including query callbacks). This event could be used to detect idle
+connections:
+
+```javascript
+function detectIdle(connection) {
+	connection._idleTimeout = null;
+
+	function clearIdleTimeout() {
+		if (connection.idleTimeout) {
+			clearTimeout(connection.idleTimeout);
+		}
+	}
+
+	connection.on('drain', function() {
+		clearIdleTimeout();
+		connection._idleTimeout = setTimeout(60000, function() {
+			console.error("Connection was idle for 60 seconds");
+			// or return to a pool, etc.
+		})
+	})
+
+	var query = connection.query;
+	connection.query = function() {
+		clearIdleTimeout();
+		query.apply(connection, arguments);
+	};
+})
+
+handleDisconnect(connection);
+```
+
 ## Escaping query values
 
 In order to avoid SQL Injection attacks, you should always escape any user
diff --git a/lib/Connection.js b/lib/Connection.js
index d660882a3..416f5aeb6 100644
--- a/lib/Connection.js
+++ b/lib/Connection.js
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ Connection.prototype.connect = function(cb) {
 
     this._socket.on('error', this._handleNetworkError.bind(this));
     this._protocol.on('unhandledError', this._handleProtocolError.bind(this));
+		this._protocol.on('drain', this._handleProtocolDrain.bind(this));
     this._protocol.on('close', this._handleProtocolClose.bind(this));
   }
 
@@ -126,6 +127,10 @@ Connection.prototype._handleProtocolError = function(err) {
   this.emit('error', err);
 };
 
+Connection.prototype._handleProtocolDrain = function(err) {
+	this.emit('drain', err);
+};
+
 Connection.prototype._handleProtocolClose = function(err) {
   this.emit('close', err);
 };
diff --git a/lib/protocol/Protocol.js b/lib/protocol/Protocol.js
index 054f86808..10d2a3a9f 100644
--- a/lib/protocol/Protocol.js
+++ b/lib/protocol/Protocol.js
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ Protocol.prototype._dequeue = function() {
 
   var sequence = this._queue[0];
   if (!sequence) {
+    this.emit('drain')
     return;
   }
 
diff --git a/test/integration/connection/test-drain-events.js b/test/integration/connection/test-drain-events.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ba5d23d6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/connection/test-drain-events.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+var common     = require('../../common');
+var connection = common.createConnection();
+var assert     = require('assert');
+
+connection.connect();
+
+var gotDrain = false;
+
+connection.on('drain', function() {
+  gotDrain = true;
+});
+
+connection.query("SELECT 1", function(err) {
+  // drain is not emitted until after the callback completes
+  assert.equal(gotDrain, false);
+  assert.ok(!err);
+  process.nextTick(function() {
+    assert.equal(gotDrain, true);
+    connection.end()
+  })
+})
+