Whats your thoughts on finding a water source

[MossRoad]

Water witching, dowsing, divining, etc... has never been proved. There's a $1,000,000.00 prize out there waiting for anyone that can prove it. No one has claimed it yet. HAhahahaha!!!

 

[Jstpssng]

Water witching, dowsing, divining, etc... has never been proved. There's a $1,000,000.00 prize out there waiting for anyone that can prove it. No one has claimed it yet. HAhahahaha!!!

I'm a skeptic, yet have seen it work too any times to completely rule it out. My father was a believer and had a friend who could "find" all manner of things... including a leaking heat pipe to one of the greenhouses at 3:00 AM in the middle of a blizzard... he was close enough so that one swoop of the tractor bucket was all that it took to access the hole. He found a leak in the water line from the well with a map and a pendulum; the line was 200+ feet long and he showed us right where to look.
Then there was the time that we had a well drilled for the greenhouse and they missed the vein; so he took his forked stick and moved the water about 3 feet to the well.
Did I mention that I'm a skeptic?

I see both sides. There's water anyplace here if you drill deeply enough; yet he used to be able to tell you with accuracy how deep you will have to go.

 

[wheelbuilder]

I worked for a well driller for a little while, and some people had also hired a dowser to find a spot on their property to drill. They were no better off than folks who didn't use a dowser. We did use dowsing rods, but they were an aid to marking things like pipes under where we might dig. I'm still skeptical, but have managed to use it myself to find pipes and wires. Maybe it's dumb luck or observation, maybe there's something to it, but I don't think it works for finding anything past 20 feet, if that.

 

[hunt4570]

It's all a matter of perspective. I would love to have a pond 1/10th the size of your small one, to irrigate my garden and for my dog to swim in. Right now all that I have is a mud puddle in the middle of the driveway, and that's starting to dry up.

Oh yeah, I love having my ponds, its what sold me on the place in the first place! While we were looking at property I walked past the house and saw the pond, told the wife this was the one, and it ended up being the one we bought.

 

[hunt4570]

The big lake is the shape of an old Army boot. It's the "odd ball" in this part of the country. It's very shallow - about 8' at the max and I don't own all of the big lake. Of my 80 acres there is about sixty of dirt - twenty of water. But that can change also. Some years the big lake will go completely dry. The "ratio" then becomes 75 dirt - 5 water.

This is an aerial view of the lands around here and my 80. View attachment 614370. The "shaft" of the boot goes out of the picture to the bottom left. I can see that this is a pic during a dry spell. The "shaft" is almost completely dry. During a really dry year - even the foot of the boot will go completely dry. My little lake can vary as much as 14 inches between the spring and fall of a really dry year. The little lake is called Martin Lk - the name of the folks who homesteaded this property. The big lake is Alkali Lk. Named after the type of water in the lake.

Well you have managed to un-impress me some, but still nice set up.

 

[52wej]

Moss Road, I knew of an old guy in our region who dowsed, but never charged for it. He said it was a gift. Some folks had drilled a well for a new house that was built. The well went dry shortly after the owners moved in and a friend of theirs asked me about it. I got them in contact with this old fellow. He came out, looked things over and told them to move the well 12 feet in one direction. They did and the new well has been good for 20 plus years as far as I know. At that time I was managing a water and sewer utility for the region and typically would use geologists and soils engineers to locate new wells! The guy that drilled my home well also located it by dowsing, placing it in a location I would not have selected. No problems for almost 40 years.

In this part of Virginia we do not have major aquifers and so well locations can be iffy at times. I have seen too many wells successfully located by dowsers to deny that it does work. But there is no way I can explain what is happening. Let's just say that I have seen it be successful many times. W. Jones

 

[Gem99ultra]

I'd sure like to find someone close that has dowsing skills. I've tried and failed completely.

I have a 1 acre pond that in the past had a very active spring feeding it. The spring was located "somewhere" in or close to the pond, but has almost closed up do to dirt migration from storms. I've talked to at lease a half dozen "old timers" that claimed to have swam in the pond back in their youth, and know exactly where the spring is/was located. None, of course, have been correct. I'm just tired of punching holes and digging around trying to locate the spring. Anyone with dowsing skills would be a welcome guest!

 

[MossRoad]

Why hasn't someone claimed the million dollar prize? :confused3:

I've seen some weird stuff in my life that is hard to explain, however, just like my mother in law that wins on the slots at the casino just about every week, I'm leaning toward skeptical and blind luck when it comes to dowsing. :laughing:

 

[oosik]

This is no joke. I worked as Director of Environmental Health for seventeen years in Anchorage. There are two major water utility "companies" in Anchorage. The City of Anchorage and Central Alaska Utilities( CAU ). Out cruising the country one day. There are about six or seven City of Anchorage Water Utility Vehicles and, at least, a dozen employees - all grouped together.

So I stopped to see what was going on. The group immediately split up when they saw me stop. I knew most of the fellows. Except one guy who did not have on the usual Water Utility overalls.

Bottom line - the Water Utility had asked a water dowser to help them find a leak in one of their main transmission lines. All their ultra modern high tech equipment had failed. The large gathering was to shield this guy from public view. They simply didn't want the general public to see that they were using a water dowser.

The leak was eventually found and fixed. I don't know if the guy found it or they finally found it with their equipment.

 

[Jstpssng]

I'd sure like to find someone close that has dowsing skills. I've tried and failed completely.

I have a 1 acre pond that in the past had a very active spring feeding it. The spring was located "somewhere" in or close to the pond, but has almost closed up do to dirt migration from storms. I've talked to at lease a half dozen "old timers" that claimed to have swam in the pond back in their youth, and know exactly where the spring is/was located. None, of course, have been correct. I'm just tired of punching holes and digging around trying to locate the spring. Anyone with dowsing skills would be a welcome guest!

Take a pair of copper welding rods about 20 inches long and bend them into an "L" , with the short sides slightly bigger than your closed fist. Hold a rod loosely in each hand with the long part pointed away from you, with your hands at a comfortable height about 12 inches apart. Then walk around your pond and see if you can find it; if they suddenly cross, that will be where to dig. It may or may not work, the only thing that you have to lose is your time.

 

[CalG]

Take a pair of copper welding rods about 20 inches long and bend them into an "L" , with the short sides slightly bigger than your closed fist. Hold a rod loosely in each hand with the long part pointed away from you, with your hands at a comfortable height about 12 inches apart. Then walk around your pond and see if you can find it; if they suddenly cross, that will be where to dig. It may or may not work, the only thing that you have to lose is your time.

This is going to be VERY DIFFICULT! I have never seen "copper welding rods", and they don't carry them at the local Airgas supply store.

 

[Alan W.]

Take a pair of copper welding rods about 20 inches long and bend them into an "L" , with the short sides slightly bigger than your closed fist. Hold a rod loosely in each hand with the long part pointed away from you, with your hands at a comfortable height about 12 inches apart. Then walk around your pond and see if you can find it; if they suddenly cross, that will be where to dig. It may or may not work, the only thing that you have to lose is your time.

All Ive ever been able to locate with the wire is buried pipes and lines.
I will have to try it over some known water sources and see what happens
But the actual dowsing with a stick never worked for me.

 

[Jstpssng]

This is going to be VERY DIFFICULT! I have never seen "copper welding rods", and they don't carry them at the local Airgas supply store.

Airgas

 

[ning]

I'd sure like to find someone close that has dowsing skills. I've tried and failed completely.

I have a 1 acre pond that in the past had a very active spring feeding it. The spring was located "somewhere" in or close to the pond, but has almost closed up do to dirt migration from storms. I've talked to at lease a half dozen "old timers" that claimed to have swam in the pond back in their youth, and know exactly where the spring is/was located. None, of course, have been correct. I'm just tired of punching holes and digging around trying to locate the spring. Anyone with dowsing skills would be a welcome guest!

If there's still water coming in to the pond, I wonder if it could be located using a thermometer during the winter, as the pond water temperature is probably going to be colder than the incoming water.

 

[oosik]

I've tried bent metal coat hangers - no joy. Try to find the spring in the summer with a thermometer. If it's like my spring - the spring water will be considerably colder than the lake water. Better yet - walk around the shore line - out in the water. You should be able to feel the spring water boiling into the lake because the spring water will be colder.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Take a pair of copper welding rods about 20 inches long and bend them into an "L" , with the short sides slightly bigger than your closed fist. Hold a rod loosely in each hand with the long part pointed away from you, with your hands at a comfortable height about 12 inches apart. Then walk around your pond and see if you can find it; if they suddenly cross, that will be where to dig. It may or may not work, the only thing that you have to lose is your time.

Good info Jstpssng. I've never heard anything about using copper rods. Thanks!
All I've tried to use was sticks and coat hangers, neither of which worked for me. One of the following notes also mentioned measuring the temperature of the water; also a good suggestion. Both suggestions are cheaper, and probably more likely to succeed, than hiring a suggested trackhoe and 'just start digging'. That ain't gonna happen...

 

[Jstpssng]

Good info Jstpssng. I've never heard anything about using copper rods. Thanks!
All I've tried to use was sticks and coat hangers, neither of which worked for me. One of the following notes also mentioned measuring the temperature of the water; also a good suggestion. Both suggestions are cheaper, and probably more likely to succeed, than hiring a suggested trackhoe and 'just start digging'. That ain't gonna happen...

As it turns out the welding rods I referred to were bronze alloy, and as Oosik mentioned coat hangers will do. Bear in mind that I'm a skeptic anyways. However, back in 7th grade I did a talk in English class about dowsing, and holding those rods as I walked back and forth in front of the classroom I watched them cross over the same spot several times. I also have watched people allegedly find water, and the stick will twist in their hands so much that the bark will peel right off the branch.

 

[hunt4570]

Take a pair of copper welding rods about 20 inches long and bend them into an "L" , with the short sides slightly bigger than your closed fist. Hold a rod loosely in each hand with the long part pointed away from you, with your hands at a comfortable height about 12 inches apart. Then walk around your pond and see if you can find it; if they suddenly cross, that will be where to dig. It may or may not work, the only thing that you have to lose is your time.

I've done the same in the past with wire clothes hangers bent the same way.

 

[redman135]

Like Allan W, stick dowsing has never worked for me. what does work for me is #8 steel fence wire or #8 copper wire (old powerline wire) when looking for underground pipes and cables.

 

[MossRoad]

You had 20 years to get a free $1,000,000.00.

One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge - Wikipedia