We had a lemon tree that did this. The irrigation line connector was probably not 100% sealed and the roots grew to it slowly broke it. It enabled the lemon tree to gets lots of water and grow. Meanwhile the trees further down the irrigation line suffered.
Reminds me when I installed a drain field for a guy that had to have trees in the woods cleared and dug up for space and everything pumped 100 feet up a hill to it due to the terrain. Just as I was finishing up he asked when he could park his 40 foot boat on top of it and was outraged when I said he can't/shouldn't do that, he then declined the offer to have us clear more area before we loaded up all the equipment. All I could imagine as I drove away was the river of shit flowing back down the hill to his house in a few years.
Same happened to me with a hackberry I didn't know was wild. Some genius added landscaping to make it look like a choice. You got off easy, I think after all was said and done I paid about the same out of pocket, but also was displaced for a long time due to the damages, and it cost insurance another $80+ grand that I'm sure I'll pay back over time in raised premiums.
You're not. But people often don't even fully know exactly where the limits of their septic system (including leach fields) are. SUPPOSEDLY they know where their septic tank is but tree roots grow, records are lost, etc.
