Prolonged droughts are big business for dowsers – those legedery diviners of an ancient techinique for finding underground water. The practice goes back five thousand years and these days they are in great demand in places like the drought-ridden American Southwest and California. where thirsty residents are leaving no stone unturned (pun intended) to find drinkable water.
"I've found at least eight wells for our vineyard and hundreds of wells for farmers and homes," Marc Mondavi, a dowser for hire, told NBC News in a recent report on the trend. He been dowsing for forty years and at least fifty percent of his customer base can be attributed to California's extreme drought.
This is the state's third year of severe drought, and the calls for dowsing are increasing because California hasn't developed any new sources of water since the 1960's, according to Mondavi.
But what exactly is dowsing?
Dowsing is a form of divining that calls for the use of a some kind of directional pointer that is usually just a forked tree branch or root. Dowsers hold the branch taughtly and walk around until the branch moves on its own, twisting and bending left or right and ultimtely leading the dowswer to the direction of underground water. The theory behind dowsing – for which there is only anicdoptal evidence and no absolute proof – is that nature will find nature; that is, the stick will find the water it thirsts for. Some dowsers use bent wires or brass rods to locate water, preceious miners, oil or even lost people or items. Some don't even use rods but how that works is even more of a mystery.
"What makes a good dowser is listening to what nature is telling you," Gregory Storozack, 68, from Edgewater, Colorado, told NBC. He's been dowsing for 32 years.
"For me, it's knowing that when you are over a target, it's just there," Storozack, also a retired municipal recreation worker, added.
Bill Getz, 71, from Schoharie, New York, said he's found more than 1,000 water wells since he started dowsing at 13, according to NBC News.
"I use an apple or a willow branch," said Getz, who is currently retired from his New York state education department job. "I look for where the water accumulates."
Dowsing costs can vary. Some dowsers are free, some want their expenses covered and others ask for donations, but Mondavi said he charges $500 per site.
"I thought it was the biggest bunch of bull I ever heard in my life," said Storozack, who said his cousin turned him to the practice to find water for the family. "I tried it and I pictured an underground stream in my mind and I started walking and the rods opened up. We found water."
Storozack said he's working on getting dowsers from across the country to offer their services to the Southwest's hardest hit areas, NBC News stated.
