The pond was not what it appeared to be

My friend down the road has a little pond deep in the recesses of a milkwood copse at the top of his driveway, which slopes gently down to the property. It is always there and he believed it to be the upwelling of a natural watercourse, of which there are many in this part of the village.
I got a frantic call from him a few days ago, asking for the number to call the Council Waterworks to come and investigate the reason for the river running down to his front door, past the house and into the neighbour's garden. It was within an inch of flooding the house and had already started seeping in. I felt sure it must be a burst pipe, as there are weekly occurrences of fountains down this road and gave him the number - the department was there within a few hours (they are very good!) with a bulldozer and in no time half the trees were ripped away, together with a large chunk of driveway.
It transpired that the pond was in fact a cracked pipe that had been leaking undetected for about 25 years! Stress had finally got the better of it and it burst open, the floodgates letting out enough water to run downhill into a neighbour's house, completely flooding it and necessitating the replacement of all the flooring.
The pond is now dried up, never to return, a new driveway has been laid and all that remains is a large pile of branches waiting to be taken away by the Forestry department. A rather sad end to what had always been a favourite part of his garden!