Questions About Dowsing For Water

[Dwight]

I need to drill a new well and would like to use a dowser.

(I am a believer in dowsing, and I can do a little of it myself.)

Two questions:

1. We have aquifers at the 75 foot level, and my dowser 25 years ago found one easily, but we have a nitrate problem, and we need to go for the larger flows which are between 100 and 250 feet.

Can dowsers "see through" the shallow aquifers and find the deeper, larger resources?

1. Does anyone have suggestions for how I can find a dowser in the Kingston/Poulsbo/Silverdale area of Kitsap County, State of Washington?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Dwight Gibb

[Ashton Crusher]

Every time dowsers have been actually tested under controlled conditions they have failed completely.

[Dan Listermann]

I have heard of a million dollar prize for someone who can prove they can do this sort of thing. It is still unclaimed.

[Frank]

Call in the tooth fairy while you're at it ;)

[bob haller]

My theory water is almopst everywhere, provided you dig deep enough.

So dowsers work because its hard to fail:)

This theory was a buddies who drilled some water wells with a deeprock type machine

[Ulysses]

"Dwight" wrote in message news:u6mdnX-RadqNL6TXnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

Where I live we are still kinda backwards and ignorant (Southern California) and everyone I know that got a good well drilled used a well witcher. Most of them used the same guy. The one person I know who paid a lot of money for a "scientific" water locater got a pathetic well (1 1/2 gpm). When the witcher was here I tried using the magic wands (two bronze welding rods bent at 90 degrees, one in each hand) and when you cross over a good spot the wands will spread apart, then cross over each other, then spread apart again (maybe it was vice versa--been a while) so it IS doing something. My attititude towards the whole thing is just because scientists can't explain it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. OTOH maybe you could simply drill anywhere around here and hit good water. My suggestion is to talk to your neighbors about their wells and find out who drilled it and go with the driller who has drilled the best wells. Around here everyone agrees on who is the best well driller. The guy down the road didn't use him and went with someone who charged less and it took about 5-6 weeks and he got a lousy well. I don't know if he hired a witcher. My well took 1 1/2 days to drill. The guy next door decided to pay more and go deeper after finding good water (hoping for more water I guess) and ended up with about the same flow rate and quality that he could have gotten for less. In your case it sounds like deeper would be better. I don't know if the witchers can find two aquifers on top of each other but my guess is that simply by going deeper you would hit the lower one. Ask your local driller and he can probably give you a good idea but of course they can't guarantee anything. He should also be able to recommend a good witcher/dowser. I don't know of anyone who used a witcher and DIDN'T get a good well.

[Dwight]

Thanks. Your experience matches mine.

One problem is that some well drillers generally dont like dowsers - feel that they get in the way.

I will keep looking.

Best,

Dwight

[RicodJour]

Now why would someone who is paid by the foot object to someone finding something nearer the surface? ;)

I have no experience with dowsing and thus no opinion, but I was born under a skeptical star.

R

[Bob Villa]

They work the same as a ouija. (only one person using each side, or personality of his brain to control the out-come)

[dpb]

Ulysses wrote: ...

...

Which observation, of course, is under the category of "correlation does not imply causation"...

--

[B__P]

Perhaps you could run an add in the local paper asking for the help of a Dowser or Water Witch. The differences between the two are that the Dowser can only find water, while the Water Witch can find water and cast a few spells on it to ensure the water is both pure and ever flowing.

Also, IMHE, older well diggers in rural areas all seem to be able to dowse. Whether it is a gimmick, they can really do it or just think they can, I don't know. But I can tell you that their butts are not really that cold. Be careful about mentioning Water Witches to the Dowsers in the rural settings. There is a big riveralry between the two - I think it started from the WW's effort to unionize.

Surry it that was too cheeky. I >>>

[JoeSpareBedroom]

That's too complicated, which is why you so often hear "Since we invaded Iraq, there've been no attacks on the U.S. mainland." There will always be an audience for correlation.

[mike]

The National Ground Water Association, though, dismisses the idea of water dowsing as "totally without scientific merit" and recommends instead "the use of proven hydrogeological and geophysical techniques for groundwater reconnaissance when its presence is not easily recognizable by drilling contractors"

[Red]

No, no. That method is for finding water lines, pipes, and telephone cables. The correct method for dowsing is to use a very limber willow branch shaped like a long wishbone, with the point up and the 2 branches held in each hand with your palms rotated outward. As you walk over the correct spot, the willow point will rotate from up to down. Have done it many many times with the willow always indicating the same spot and not random as one might expect. I admit I never dug a well to prove it was correct, but it was uncanny how the willow always reacted to the same spot.

Red

[Hipupchuck]

They are frauds. You can find water anywhere you drill.

[sligoNoSPAMjoe]

...

In real life, I believe you will find that the good ones knowingly or unknowingly use clues as to the proper location and that knowledge results in a higher than random results.

I broke trough a plastic gas line from the street to my home once. I called the gas company and they came out and were looking for the shutoff valve. The first guy could not find it using the electronic finder they had. He called in his boss who had a different finder, but it was dead, so he took two welding rods, bent them and dowsed his way around my lot until he found the shutoff valve.

I don't know if the other guy believed him, but when I cornered him he explained how he did it. They put a small current through a wire that is installed with the plastic pipe and it makes a very small magnetic field that those welding rods in the right hands can detect. He also told me what I needed to patch the pipe and where to get it, saving me a fair amount of money. He was a nice guy.

[windcrest]

Hmm willow trees do like very wet soil and often grow on the edges of lakes.

In my old house my main drain line out to the street was collapsed (clay tile old house). It needed to be dug up and repaired. The plumber came out with a dowser to find the line. He found it, dug down by hand (6 feet deep 3 days of digging). Repaired the line. This was in 1984, the plumber took the job because of a bad economy but he did not own a backhoe, I was impressed but did start to feel pretty sorry for him digging every day in my front lawn. He mentioned he was an ex-convict getting back on his feet, had no problem digging up a line by hand.

[bud--]

Tell the witcher about the million dollar challenge - in an early post by HeyBub. No need to explain how it works, you just have to demonstrate you have the ability. Maybe the witcher will give you $100,000 as a finders fee when he wins.

A friend has a cabin and had to replace his septic system about a month ago, which under current regs had to be much different. I was there for the install. The contractor didn't get a locate on the underground high voltage cables (dumb) and did not want to dig-into them. He had a local witcher locate them. The contractor hand dug a trench across the path to get an exact position where the cable crossed the drainfield pipe. He didn't find it. He wound up digging down to the cable over a 50 foot length away from the utility pole where the cables came up. The path was completely different from what the witcher plotted (and away from the septic system). The high voltage cable was in one location, unlike aquifers.

[Ulysses]

I'd better be more careful what I say ;-) OP said dowsers but around here they're called witchers so I'd better get it straight. Meanwhile, the spell that my witcher cast seems to be working as the water is crystal clear and the well never goes dry. Maybe it was the tip I gave him go get something for his horse (long story). I am one of the most skeptical people alive and well witchers sounded to me like a bunch of horseshit, but I know enough to know I don't know everything. I didn't believe in mental telepathy either until I had a dog that communicated with me by putting images and ideas in my head. Now that I'm open to the idea I have another dog that tries but I guess we are not on the same frequency. I also did not believe in angels until I saw one. If I live long enough I might even believe in Obama.

My driller actually recommended a witcher and that's who I went with. Around here if you want a good well you call the one specific driller. If you want to gamble you call someone else. Same thing with getting a pump installed.

[Ulysses]

No, no. That method is for finding water lines, pipes, and telephone cables. The correct method for dowsing is to use a very limber willow branch shaped like a long wishbone, with the point up and the 2 branches held in each hand with your palms rotated outward. As you walk over the correct spot, the willow point will rotate from up to down. Have done it many many times with the willow always indicating the same spot and not random as one might expect. I admit I never dug a well to prove it was correct, but it was uncanny how the willow always reacted to the same spot.

Red

I must be confusing witching and dowsing again. I didn't have any pipes, power lines, phone wires, etc. I've never tried the willow but I remember Walter Brennon using one on The Real McCoys quite a few years back. What do dowsers use if there are no willows in the area? Buy one on eBay? I have some trees down by my creek that might be some kind of willow. I guess I'd better look up what they are so I can make a divining wand or rod or whatever they are called. That reminds me--I found a very strong signal with the welding rods and was thinking of making a long drill with a 2" arbor bit and see if I hit anything. The bushes in that area stay very green when there is a drought.