[Governor Dinwiddie]

What confuses me is that if the water was electrified, wouldn't all the water be at the same potential? How would that create a circuit? Birds perch on high voltage wires without harm because there is no circuit created.

[Elderberry]

Water is not a perfect conductor, it has some resistance. The purer the water is, the more resistance it has. I worked on a radar that used purified water for insulation. There will be a voltage gradient in the water from the voltage source, to the point where the voltage has dropped to zero.