Drought-hit Texas town uses "witching" to find water

yahoo news via Reuters ^ | June 30, 2011 | Jim Forsyth

[bgill]

Using a couple of brass rods and a big helping of ingenuity, one tiny Texas town has managed to subvert a drought-related crisis and bring water to the people.

The Llano River was dangerously close to drying up as Texas faces a punishing and record-breaking drought. Residents of this Hill Country town west of Austin depend on the river for their entire water supply.

It neared zero flow this week, and the city was looking at trucking in water from 20 miles away, when city leaders employed the old-fashioned "witching" technique to strike water in the limestone bedrock near the city's water treatment plant.

"It was done by the use of two brass spindles ... and you walk with them in either hand," said City Manager Finley deGraffenried.

[bgill]

Between October and May, Texas experienced the driest eight-month period since records began in 1895.

Texas is in a severe drought. This new well is miraculous. 92,000 gallons per minute!

[Tijeras_Slim]

I live in an area of NM that evreybody has a well, or hauls water in.

The drilling companies have “witchers”, and they hit a lot more often than they miss. A miraculous well in this neighborhood is 15 gallons a minute.

[Blood of Tyrants]

You always have to wonder if they had drilled 100 ft in any direction if they would have hit water anyway.

[Viking2002]

They're using my ex-wife to find water?!? She couldn't find her own ass with both hands and a mirror.

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for his name is Obama."

[hellbender]

Probably witching "works" because there is in fact ground water almost everywhere. It's possible the witchers have a pretty good working knowledge of where to hit water anyway, and the arm-twisting is just an act.

The National Ground Water Association strongly opposes the use of water witches to locate groundwater on the grounds that controlled experimental evidence clearly indicates that the technique is totally without scientific merit. The Association recommends the use of proven hydrogeological and geophysical techniques for groundwater reconnaissance when its presence is not easily recognizable by drilling contractors.

[Pearls Before Swine]

They're using my ex-wife to find water?!? She couldn't find her own ass with both hands and a mirror.

Was she able to find your wallet?

[will of the people]

“They're using my ex-wife to find water?!? She couldn't find her own a** with both hands and a mirror”

Well to be fair, objects may be larger than they appear in the mirror

Will

[Terry Mross]

Residents of this Hill Country town west of Austin depend on the river for their entire water supply.

I had to read through the sixth paragraph to find the name of “this Hill Country town”....Llano. And I think it’s actually called “dowsing”. I’ve never heard it called “witching”. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s not.

[kittymyrib]

In Texas, it’s called “witching,” and it works. My uncle used peach tree switches and never missed hitting water in always-dry West Texas.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I’ve run a public water supply company for almost 30 years. I’ve seen this work! 2 guys I know can do it. Not just for drilling wells, but for finding lost service lines.

[Bryan24]

I’ve watched a guy do it. It is real.

[Isabel2010]

They’re using my ex-wife to find water?!? She couldn’t find her own ass with both hands and a mirror.

Was it missing??? ;)

[RegulatorCountry]

It’s very common and accepted here in NC, too. Every house I’ve ever built and every house I’ve ever known to have a well dug, was “witched” beforehand. River Birch or Willow, here. Watery trees.

What’s even more interesting is to see often the same old guys witch a lost, buried power line with a copper coathanger.

[ansel12]

Plumbers use it also to find pipes, I have never become convinced it works.

[babygene]

I tried picking lottery numbers that way once. I took 50 some index cards and wrote numbers on them, shuffled them and laid them face down on the patio. I used a forked willow branch to pick the lottery numbers.

I didn’t win 100 million, thus proving that dowsing doesn’t work.

[crazyhorse691]

I have seen dowsing work on several occasions. As for locating a good fishing spot it really doesn't work.

[Viking2002]

'Was she able to find your wallet?'

She not only found it, she rendered it inert.

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for his name is Obama."

[hellbender]

You did not watch a controlled experiment, like those conducted by the Nat. Ground Water Assoc. Saying "I've seen it work" is what is known as "anecdotal evidence;" that's not science. Witchers or dowsers find water simply because water is almost everywhere underground.

The article says that the Llano River is still flowing. If rivers and streams continue to flow long after it has rained, it's because they are receiving discharge from the ground water. That's proof that there is water down there. Also, the article says the water was in limestone bedrock. Limestone usually has large solution channels which carry large volumes of ground water.

[Viking2002]

'Was it missing??? ;)'

No, mine was after the divorce, though.

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for his name is Obama."

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

*** A miraculous well in this neighborhood is 15 gallons a minute.***

Salty or alkali?