Texas Oak Tree gurgling water; cause unknown

This was a fascinating story. Anyone have a theory?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA081106.01A.mysterious_tree.1e37d78.html

I can't open the link for some reason -- maybe my spyware blocker is involved, I dunno. Can you summarize it for us?

Guy S.

Someone else just sent me a link that I was able to open.
Here is the text:
================================
This East Side tree does its own watering

Web Posted: 08/10/2006 11:09 PM CDT

Vincent T. Davis
Express-News Staff Writer

Lucille Pope's red oak tree has baffled tree experts, water specialists and nursery professionals.
The knotted, towering tree, more than 100 years old, has become the root of scrutiny in her East Side neighborhood. The tree has gurgled water from its trunk for the past three months.

Pope, 65, has sought answers from several specialists, calling experts from the Texas Forest Service, the Edwards Aquifer Authority and nurseries for an explanation.
They've combed her backyard, probing the gnarled tree that leans away from a parked white 1980s Cadillac.

After snapping pictures, doing taste tests and conducting preliminary studies, they're still working to give her a definitive answer.

"I got a mystery tree," Pope said. "What kind of mystery do I have where water comes out of a tree?"

The odd occurrence started in early April when her son, Lloyd Pope, noticed bark smeared with sap when he went to fill his the water trough of his stepson's dog Neno. After moving the Rottweiler's tray, he saw a wide stain that ran from the root up toward the branches, with fluid dripping to the ground from above.

Days later, he saw water streaming onto the ground from the other side, and he showed his mother the sight.

Lloyd Pope, 47, said the water was cool, like it came from a faucet. The only damp spot around the tree trunk is where the water lands.

The peculiar incident has the Popes wondering if the water has properties not found on tap.

Pope said her insurance agent dabbed drops on a spider bite that went away after the application on the welt. Pope said she's soaked her sore ankles in water from the tree and the pain has gone away.

Now she wonders, is it a tree that heals or water that blesses?

Her son doesn't believe the cause of the streaming water is anything holy or religious.

"I ain't with that superstitious stuff," Lloyd Pope said, sitting on the hood of the Cadillac, catching water spurting out of the tree in a plastic gallon jug. "There's no crying Mary here."

After hearing of the leaking tree, two water experts stopped by Wednesday afternoon to study the strange sight.

George Rice, a hydrologist on the board of the authority, and Annalisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, walked around the tree, touching the damp surface.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Rice said. "If you wanted to dream something up I'd say that somehow water pressure underneath is forced through some kind of channel in the tree. But that's still very unlikely."

Rice watched the water gurgling about 2 feet up from the roots, estimating the flow at a 10th or 20th of a gallon every minute.

Lloyd Pope offered a blue plastic cup of the cool water to Rice and several bystanders. After a sip, Rice said it tasted like it could have had a trace of saline, almost like something that could have gone through natural dissolving salts.

Rice took a quarter of a plastic bottle of water from the tree, analyzing it later with a quick examination kit that measured water conductivity.

"From a crude, free test I can't tell the difference," Rice said of the water he compared to Edwards Aquifer water. "It's 600 micromhos, the same as what comes out of my tap, maybe a little higher."

Mark Peterson, regional community forester from the Texas Forest Service, paid a courtesy call three weeks ago to help Pope figure out a logical explanation to the phenomenon. He hasn't done any extensive research but still is trying to identify the enigma. He's talked to consultation services without any results

He said he believes it could be a spring, adding that that would be rare with the drought conditions this summer.

Peterson plans to ask colleagues around the country via link services for ideas about the tree.

"If it is a burst pipe their monthly bill would be enormous," Peterson said. "It would definitely be reflected in their bill."

Pope said she doesn't think the cause is a broken water pipe. She said her water bill is normal and hasn't fluctuated from the monthly average.

The only fluctuation she's seen she said is in the morning when the water flow is more forceful.

Roland Ruiz, spokesman for the authority, said that early in the morning he would suspect that the aquifer level would be up.

"With a high demand the level would be down," Ruiz said. "As the demand dropped, theoretically it would go up."

Thursday afternoon Ruiz said a science team member researched the elevation of the area and said that it's unlikely that the water from the tree is from aquifer springflow.

The family members said they plan to call the San Antonio Water System for an assessment.

After Rice and Peace left with their sample of water, Lloyd Pope continued to sit on the hood of the Cadillac, pressing the mouth of the nearly filled jug to the spout of water, just as he does every other day. Then he put the collected water, which he said is better than faucet water, in the icebox.

His mother cupped her hands to the tree, drinking the pooled water spilling over her fingers.

She's still waiting to find out if the source of the mysterious water flow is an artesian spring, a broken water pipe or an abandoned well.

Or possibly something else.

"I just want to know if it is a healing tree or blessed water," she said. "That's God's water. Nobody knows but God."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vtdavis@express-news.net
Staff Writers Carmina Danini and Jerry Needham contributed to this report.

A couple of years ago two friends and I were increment-coring a large (120-foot tall) cottonwood by our creek. It was hollow and, when we broke through the outer shell of solid wood and extracted what core we could get, we found we had tapped into a reservoir of rain water that apparently had entered an opening high in the crown. The tree spouted a forceful 3/8-inch stream of water that shot out more than ten feet, lasting for about 20 minutes. The water must have been accumulating for decades.

Since the flow rate for the Texas oak is much slower (i.e. more constricted), mayby they have a similar situation there?

Guy S.

I think someone is going to find a tiny hole in the water main with an Oak root stuck in it. Apparently this is upstream of the homeowner's water meter, so they aren't paying for the leak. he he

I agree. I bet a lot of water is soaking in the ground under the tree also, but with the drought Texas is having it isn't being noticed.

kman-blue I agree with you. Think the root will be in a water line but it's not drawing enough to really show up in the water bill.

I will bet that there is a leak in the water system on the public side of the meter so it wouldn't show up on any meter. They should test the water for chlorine residuals (if that is what the municipality is using to clean the water supply) to determine if it is from the water distribution system or not.

Bill

NO WAY!!! THIS FATIMA OAK IS THE REAL THING!!!!! THE BLESSED WATER CURES SPIDER BITES AND SORE ANKLES!!!!! ALL YE DISBELIEVERS!!!!!

I don't think I would drink the water, as they are doing in the article. Still, as bad as the drought is they are having, "free" water is indeed a blessing. She could set up a drip irrigation for her garden...

Why wouldn't you drink the water passiflora? It is either spring water, potable drinking water, or whiskey aged in oak.

Bill

Groundwater can be contaminated with heavy metals (arsenic, lead), sewage (e. coli, viruses) , pesticides, parasites (giardia lamblia)...who knows what's in there? Sure it looks pretty gurgling out of an old oak tree. But I would be wary about drinking from an untested spring.

Could be a spectic tank or sewage line run off. That would be funny in a sick sort of way. LOL.

instant fertilizer.

I found this update: When the water main to her house was turned off, the tree fountain ceased to flow. It was discovered that a root had tapped into a pipe going to a shed in the back of her house. And the water was "teeming with bacteria" for all those who drank the "miracle water"! (See, Willis_McK!)
http://www.local6.com/spotlight/9700932/detail.html#

The last line in the report said it all: "...for more on this story..."

I think I've read enough! They are all there.

It is in Texas. You would think they had an "arbolist" or an "arbo-tree-ist" look at it.

Wow! It always alarms me when I see the public health officials talking about those deadly 'chloroform' bacteria; they ought to know better - though I guess I could chalk it up to a misunderstanding of the term 'coliform' by the typical local news reporter who probably never even took Biology 101. Chloroform is a chlorinated hydrocarbon - CH3Cl; coliforms are bacteria common to the intestinal tract of various animals.

Coliforms, in and of themselves, are not necessarily bad, but high 'fecal coliform' counts would suggest contamination with human or animal fecal material.
http://www.state.ky.us/nrepc/water/wcpfcol.htm

I probably wouldn't have drunk(not drank, as quoted in the article) the water - but there have been times I've been so thirsty I've considered drinking out of the cows' stock tank...

I thought so! I wonder why her water bill wasn't higher though, since the shed seems to be on her property.

Passiflora, who are you going to trust, a reporter and a lab guy who's grammar is atrocious, or the famous man at the tree who so eloquently stated "I have been drinking the water for three or four months and I have not kicked the bucket"?

I have consumed plenty of nasty water during my backpacking trips, most which I treat with iodine or a filter, and some not. And yes I have drunk from a cow tank but treated and filtered it first and drank untreated water in the desert and the dreaded water in Mexico. Never had any ill effects. It is all a matter of what bacteria and how many fecal coliforms, like Lucky states. I bet the water you are drinking has bacteria in it, how much is a matter of your distance from the water pumping station, the amount of the residual chlorine in the system, the amount of sediment and organic matter in the water distribution system and your own pipes, and how well you clean your dishes.

Bacteria are part of the miracle of life :)

Are our bodies just a vessel to feed, shelter, and propagate the colonies of bacteria that break down our food into useable nutrients?

Tootles

Wow Mexico? Untreated water is a scary thing south of the boarder. LOL.

I would guess that the "water" line was actually a sewer line. Many localities base your sewer bill on the amount of water you use, so if the tree had rooted into the sewer line, it would never show up on the water bill.

Those people were idiots to be drinking or even touching that water with no idea where it was coming from.

And the world laughs at you. Why if something can't be instantly explained is it Gods work. Do behave.

Not untreated in Mexico, just Mexican water. I am not crazy. I don't think a sewer line would provide enough pressure to make water spring from a tree. Trees have roots in sewers all the time and they don't turn into miracle trees.

Ah hart, they may be idiots, but not for touching or taste testing the water. You could probably smell it if it were sewer water and wouldn't drink it. If it were something really insidious mixed in the water, a small dosage probably would be safe, but the well-hydrated "man at the tree" drinking for 3 to 4 months would have been in for it. Too bad there are no pics with the story. It would be nice to put faces to this hilarity.

As far as the water bill it is hard to say without seeing the place. Maybe they did have a high bill for a long time or maybe the line is an un-billed "cheater" line. They never really go into how much they looked into the actual water usage of the homeowner and based on the reporter's expert use of the English language, I am guessing his investigation didn't delve too deep.

Bill

"Wow! It always alarms me when I see the public health officials talking about those deadly 'chloroform' bacteria"
"arbolist"
Who are we to criticize? We don't have Ivy league edjications.
'Hamburg Amerika' (Walker & Bush)

Yes I have drunk from ground water before and routinely drink well water but I wouldn't trust just anything gurgling up from anywhere.

Most people aren't at risk for serious illness from this although if you happen to be immunosuppressed or have cirrhosis of the liver it is very risky. Diarrhea is the main concern for the average person due to pathogenic e. coli, giardia lamblia or cryptosporidium.

Try putting tap water under a microscope. You will only drink alchol from then on.

Exactly my point mike, thanks. That is why I balance my water intake with booze.

I am not advocating taste testing everything wet that you encounter, just the potentially miraculous ones.

Bill

Oh, what's a little amoeba or two among friends?
;-)

Well the ones that think this story is the work of someone higher can tell you about amoeba's.
God botherers!!!!

Nope. The Negra Modelo didn't do it, so maybe I'll have to try something stronger.

Bill