UT researchers have found trees along Waller Creek are more drought-resistant, likely because of leaky pipes.
That’s the finding of a team of UT researchers who recently took a look at the rings in trees close to leaky city infrastructure versus trees farther away. The group, headed by Jay Banner, looked specifically at trees along Waller Creek on the UT campus. Banner directs UT’s Environmental Science Institute.. He found that 25% to 50% of the water in Waller Creek, which flows through the UT campus and downtown Austin, appears to come from such leaks.
“When there’s a drought, the trees don’t grow as fast, so they grow skinnier rings,” Banner said. “So we can use trees as sort of an indicator of past droughts.”
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