Water dowsing

[vicky]

We've a water leak under the tarmac driveway and don't know where the water pipes are. So does anyone have any experience with how accurate dowsing is? Yesterday there were 3 of us doing it and the sticks kept crossing in the same place for each person, we could 'follow' the pipes from the house to the outside tap.

It's not something I've tried before so I'm curious to hear if anyone else has had experience with it? (It was quite funny to see my 75 year old dad wandering around with rods - a total sceptic till they kept crossing!)

[roitelet]

Dowsing does work. I once knew a dowser who could search for all sorts of things with amazing accuracy. If the rods are all crossing at the same site then I would think that is where the leak is. The only way that you can be sure is to dig a hole! Best of luck.

[alldigging]

The water board use it to find where their pipes are.

Hmm wonder if it'll find land drains!

Two pen tubes and some rods made from metal coat hangers should do the trick.

[julesapple]

Try it with hazel sticks, see if that works in the same place. I've never tried it, but I remember reading an Arthur Ransome book where Titty dowsed for water with a v-shaped hazel twig and found it. Ransome was always as factually correct as he could be when writing for children.

[Feral007]

My dad used to do it. He wasn't too bad with it but he said he knew a bloke who couldn't miss when he was a kid. Dad dug a few wells for watering his paddock gardens and he was confident enough to dig on the spot lol.

[rustylady]

I've done it myself. Was really sceptical but it worked.

[rinabean]

Dowsing doesn't work. It can work in a psychological way - you pay more attention to the little signs that you can pick up that indicate water (noises, vibrations) but that you would normally ignore, and you subconsciously cross the sticks at the point where you think water is most likely - but there is no scientific basis for the idea that walking around with sticks helps you find anything that you'd be unaware of without them. They have tested the "most accurate" dowsers, and their dowsing is no better at finding water than chance.

[greenishfing]

I used to live in spain and many people in the country had their own wells; the local dowser was always summoned to tell people where to dig. He was evidently very accurate and could even tell you the depth. He once let me have a go and it was amazing when the rods crossed of their own accord. My husband was a complete sceptic but it even worked for him.

[mothhawk]

I have seen my Mum dowse for water with hazel (in fact a surprising amount of different woods will work), and the force was so strong in the twig to twist, that if she held it tight (as proof to sceptics) the bark would actually twist off in her hands as the twig turned.

I can also dowse, (it's not hard to do ) and I remember the shocked surprise I felt the first time the twig jumped and twisted in my grip. Funnily enough, Mum's stick always twists clockwise, going straight down to point at the ground, but mine go the other way, and turn up and in towards me, then down to the ground.

[Hilary B]

There are machines that will beep if you are over a water source, they detect some electrical effect. If they can build a machine that does it, there is no reason why a human being shouldn't be able to. Yes, it IS a case of demonstrating the subconscious knowledge of the individual holding the gadget, but that subconscious knowledge is not imaginary, nor is it from 'ordinary' signals, there are real electrical signs, and what has been shown is that MOVING water, and in particular the interface between oving water and solid bits gives of a signal to which some people are sensitive.
In one test some highly regarded dowswers were in a plane, unable to see out, and consistently got signals when flying over the edges of a big river. No signal in the middle apparently.

[rustylady]

Dowsing doesn't work. It can work in a psychological way - you pay more attention to the little signs that you can pick up that indicate water (noises, vibrations) but that you would normally ignore, and you subconsciously cross the sticks at the point where you think water is most likely - but there is no scientific basis for the idea that walking around with sticks helps you find anything that you'd be unaware of without them. They have tested the "most accurate" dowsers, and their dowsing is no better at finding water than chance.

Sorry Rinabean, I didn't cross the sticks - they were held very loosely and crossed themselves.

[vicky]

I mentioned the dowsing to the plumber who didn't take it seriously but the insurance company seemed to think it was worth digging in the place suggested.

(the only problem is it's on the driveway so I have been spotted by the neighbours and school mums walking round like a zombie and laughing like a crazy lady...)

[rinabean]

Sorry Rinabean, I didn't cross the sticks - they were held very loosely and crossed themselves.

I believe that you are not making it up and that you didn't deliberately cross the sticks. But if there were some magic in the sticks, it would have been proven by now. There's a million dollar prize for whoever can actually dowse for water, in a controlled experiment, and no-one's won it. Some dowsers know the land they dowse on like the back of their hand, and are quite successful at locating water on it, but they all fail at the tests.

[Rustybean]

Dowsing the soil can be useful to decide best position for plants too.