Not only trees in cities do that. A lot of clogged home sewers are caused by trees that wanted more to drink. Once the sewer line is fully blocked, they've arrived in paradise. Now there is a constant supply in the permanently filled sewer line.

I use to live on a property in a development. On my property were a pair of big willows. The trees were large and healthy, well over 50' tall. That was strange, because the region is high desert with little water, and I made no effort to irrigate them.

One morning in spring, after I'd been living there about 15 years, the neighborhood streets flooded. There were geysers of water shooting up from manholes. Turns out, the willows had been planted over an irrigation ditch[1]. The willows had driven their tap roots into the pipeline and plugged it about 10' underground. When the water authority opened gates miles upstream, the water pressure blew water up the manholes into the streets and a few yards.

Farmers are very motivated to get their water. They, and the ditch company, rapidly cleared the plug and removed the trees.

Before this happened I had no idea the irrigation system ran through the property. I knew about an easement, but I thought it was for sewage, because the developer used an iron manhole cover from the local municipal waste management operation when they covered the irrigation ditch: it literally had "Sewer" cast into the iron.

[1] Formerly an actual ditch, later made into a pipeline and covered over, but still technically a "ditch" for purposes of water management.

Or at least, constant supply for the several hours it will take to call a rooter company and clear the drain line. Ironically, the tree would have better results if it only partly blocked the drain. I wonder if trees might ever evolve to strike that kind of balance, or if there's not enough selection pressure for that to happen.