Well witching, myth or real?

[Archaea]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/dows28.shtml

Here is an inexplicable event by which some will swear. Any experience with it? I had a mission companion whose dad earned money doing it for municipalities.

I've never witnessed myself, but I wonder how could something so unscientific be true.

[BlueK]

Originally Posted by Archaea

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/dows28.shtml

Here is an inexplicable event by which some will swear. Any experience with it? I had a mission companion whose dad earned money doing it for municipalities.

I've never witnessed myself, but I wonder how could something so unscientific be true.

if it does work there is probably a scientific explanation for it that they haven't figured out yet.

[Jeff Lebowski]

It is complete nonsense. It just baffles me that some folks still pay money for this, even in the 21st century. I really laugh when the witchers claim that once they find the water, the dowsing stick twitches to the side a series of times, once for every cfs (cubic feet per second) of water that will be produced by the well. It's bad enough to assume that the stick will be calibrated to a specific unit of measurement, but to do this it would also need to be able to predict the future; since the pumping rate will be a function of the size of the well screen, how the well is developed, the diameter of the well string, the size of the pump used, and many other factors.

A few years ago, some researchers at Utah State University did a controlled study to test the validity of water witching. Kind of like a Myth-Busters episode. They laid out a large grid and had some water witchers come and take a shot at finding the water. I can't remember all of the details, but the witchers failed miserably. The study was published as a technical note in the Ground Water Journal sponsored by the National Ground Water Association.

Sadly, the practice continues here in Utah also. Many of the wells in Western Utah Country (Goshen, Elberta, etc.) were "witched". Including many of those on the church-owned farms. Old habits die hard, I guess. And like the paper says, many of the old farmers just want to hedge their bets. I know a few farmers who claim that the best witcher in the area is a former stake president. He carries his rods around in a case and has different tips that he screws on for different occasions. For example, if he wants to witch for gold, he screws on a gold tip. I am not making this up. Ugh......

[hyrum]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

It is complete nonsense. It just baffles me that some folks still pay money for this, even in the 21st century. I really laugh when the witchers claim that once they find the water, the dowsing stick twitches to the side a series of times, once for every cfs (cubic feet per second) of water that will be produced by the well. It's bad enough to assume that the stick will be calibrated to a specific unit of measurement, but to do this it would also need to be able to predict the future; since the pumping rate will be a function of the size of the well screen, how the well is developed, the diameter of the well string, the size of the pump used, and many other factors.

A few years ago, some researchers at Utah State University did a controlled study to test the validity of water witching. Kind of like a Myth-Busters episode. They laid out a large grid and had some water witchers come and take a shot at finding the water. I can't remember all of the details, but the witchers failed miserably. The study was published as a technical note in the Ground Water Journal sponsored by the National Ground Water Association.

Its funny the news article itself mentions that the witchers did not do well in controlled tests, but then goes on to speak about them as if they could be valid. No wonder science education is so poor in this country.