It's been a mystery for a long time on Spindrift Drive in La Jolla. A constant, steady stream of water coming from even on dry, sunny days.
"To see all this water going down the drain literally is disturbing to me,” resident Bob Bowden said.
Bowden built his home here in the late 1970s. He says the mystery stream appeared out of nowhere three to five years ago, maybe longer.
"It’s frustrating that we've been unable to get anyone's attention at city hall that could solve it,” Bowden added.
The water runs 24 hours a day, flowing at the same rate no matter what time. People who work on homes on this street but don't live here have noticed.
"People fall all the time. I'm surprised the city hasn't been sued yet,” Kyle Bakken, tree trimmer and La Jolla resident, said.
The running water can also leave behind costly damages.
"Now what it's doing is eroding the street. If you look down you can see it,” construction worker Walt Cooper said.
Even people walking by several times a week have noticed.
"It's there winter and summer or whether it's raining or not,” Ray Weiss, who walks by five days a week on his way to Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said.
The water runs into this storm drain close to the Marine Room restaurant. We followed it up stream and found no visible signs the water is coming from someone's yard. It quite frankly appears to come right out of the sidewalk at this point and again at this point across the street.
10News found out that a couple of years ago, residents did meet with their city council member and the heads of the Water Department. A Water official brought up the theory that perhaps the water is coming from the ground somewhere on top of Mt. Soledad.
However since then, the city hasn’t confirmed that theory and the water keeps flowing.
One theory that came out of the meeting is that the water is coming naturally from the ground. Since then, that theory hasn't been proven and nothing more has been done.
"We know nothing still after all these years,” Bowden said.
One resident estimates some 30,000 gallons a year are being wasted.
10News is still waiting to hear back from the city.
We also called our expert geologist Pat Abbott for his take on this. He does believe the ground water theory is a possibility.
Abbott explained that past landslides or fault movements on Mt. Soledad may have carved out the earth below in a way that stops and directs water, be it from humans or naturally from the ground, onto streets like spindrift drive.
