Agree with Elaine and Sue.
Since you live in Houston I'm guessing that you might have heavy clay soil?
Did you mean that you have 15 oaks or that your oaks are 15-30 years old? Or 15 oaks that are 30 years old? Doesn't matter b/c I just want to be sure you don't have soaker hoses wrapped around the other trees in the same fashion as the one in your picture. As Elaine said, whenever you do need to water the trees, you want to do it in a large circle so that you are watering just under or a little further out from the drip line.
We have a local gardening guru in Dallas that people either love or hate. (I'm in the 1st category, mostly.) He has a lot of info on trees, among other living things. Here's a link to one of the pages on his website as it starts with a discussion of construction damage. You might surf around some of his other articles on trees on his website. Mostly confirms what's already been said but sometimes it helps to read different authors. (Or that could just be my problem.) Good luck!
https://www.dirtdoctor.com/gar...
