Lucille Pope's oak tree has
sprung a leak. Water is pouring out of it at the rate of a tenth of a gallon every minute, and no one knows where the water is coming from.
It all started back in April when a little sap started oozing out of the tree. The sap progressed to a dark stain, that eventually turned into a steady trickle of water. Lucille Pope thinks it's some kind of miracle tree, and that the water has special healing properties. However, her son Lloyd says
"I ain't with that superstitious stuff ... There's no crying Mary here." (Good for him.) However, the specialists from the local water board are baffled. It doesn't seem to be a leaking pipe since Mrs. Pope's water bill isn't going up. Hydrologist George Rice said:
"I've never seen anything like this before. 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."
I can't imagine how this phenomenon could easily be faked, so I doubt it's a hoax. I'm going with the underground spring that somehow forced its way up through the tree theory.
Comments
Wikipedia on transpirational pull (the process that gets water from the roots to the leaves)
Wikipedia on xylem (the tissue/vessels that get the water up there)
A quick google search says a large oak tree transpires about 100 gallons a day (on average), and about 40-60 a day for medium-sized oaks. Obivously that would depend on their access to water. But this is just a little leak. Probably just a few vessels near the outside ruptured or something - most xylem is effectively dead wood. I doubt it has much ability to heal/seal itself.
It's got to be some kind of naturally formed channel inside the tree (maybe created by insects?) that some underground source of water is pushing up through.
There has to be some sort of external water supply with a fair amount of pressure behind it, such as a spring or water main or a bit of lost alien technology from Atlantis.
They fixed it, and then two days later it happened again further down the street.
Funny!
pepe
Does anybody happen to know how deep or shallow the water table in that area is?
As for fault lines and some of the other geophysical processes mentioned, the ares it pretty stable with caverns and other formations, but no major pressure on the water table. There is a huge aquifer in the area (ogallala aquifer) but it's pretty low right now due to the drought and heavy draining from the cities.
All in all, it seems to be a mystery. Luckily, the public water services pump enough chlorine and flouride into tap water that it should be easy to tell apart from spring water...
"San Antonio Water System workers turned off the water to his house at the street Wednesday morning, and when they did, the flow from the tree ceased..."
So, I guess if water giving tress were documented to have healing properties back in biblical times - why wouldn't there be one now?? And maybe it doesn't matter where the water comes from (a pipe or spring), but instead, how it travels up throuh a tree, purifies it, and makes it heal people that makes it a miracle. I do believe it is a gift from God... And people should stop being so negative... we ask for miracles from God, we ask for aswers to our pains and sicknesses - and when we get miracles like this one, we rip it apart and refuse to accept it?!? People need to relax, and just have some hope, belief and faith in good things. And finally, God can use a pipe to get water through a tree if he wants to. There were no water pipes in Bible times, so God must have used a spring -- and what's the difference anyhow? it's still rare - and it's still a miracle! And for those that don't accept miracles - well, then, keep 'accepting' to be sick and miserable - just quit crying about it, and don't blame God for your misery.