Question
A month ago, I cut down two dying birch trees (35-40 years old)in my front yard.  A couple of weeks ago I had the tree stumps ground.  Water (Maybe a cup every 3 hours)is leaking from one of the tree roots.  The water is foul smelling.  It leaks from the root into the hole we dug for the new tree to be planted.  We are on an elevated hill, so I don't think that it is a spring--plus we live in the desert area.  Any thoughts?

Answer
This is normal especially a birch cut in the spring. The root system is still alive and the roots are doing their job in the spring --pumping water to the leaves so they will sprout. This is the natural process in the spring. Your tree has no trunk or leaves but the roots are still active and thus the water coming from the roots. This will stop as the root system dies. Once the roots use all the stored energy and no new growth of leaves happens to replace the energy supply in the roots they will die.