A DIVINE ART

With droughts seemingly increasingly prevalent in the UK, the demand for water diviners increases every year, to the point where we are, as a group, starting to train up new people, which takes time.

Most farmers know or have heard about water divining/dowsing, but for those who are unfamiliar with the art, here are a few basic details.

We can, usually with a high degree of accuracy, give you the following information:

• Whether or not you have water under your land; not everybody does, and if we can’t find any, we have probably saved you a lot of wasted money in a search.

• The best or most likely spot(s) to investigate further.

• How deep the water is and the depth of the water flow.

• The rate in gallons per hour that the water is running through at that time.

• Whether the water is potable (potentially drinkable) or not.

Can you name a machine that can do all that and not damage the ground?

Water is becoming an expensive commodity. In the US and Australia, they actually trade water-bearing land on their stock exchanges, and in some instances farmers who need water are priced out of the market.

Finding leaks in pipes is another problem.

Despite protestations by some water companies, a lot of their operatives use it and keep dowsing rods in their vans, but of course they don’t cover private land, which is where we get involved.

Many people don’t even know where their pipes are to start with, and there are times when we go to a job only to be told that they have a leak but don’t know where, in a two mile stretch across fields, the pipe runs.

We do this work for industry, offices and even private individuals who have serious problems with their central heating; it is great fun trying to trace a leak over three floors.

People with wells that are ‘lost’ or should be there somewhere are another part of our work. Landscaping and building extensions don’t help the search. If wells are found they can they be brought back into use for watering the garden and such like.

Some people are also looking to go ‘off grid’ and know a water supply on their land would be useful. Rogue springs which just ‘appear’ often cause problems and clients sometimes need to know what can be done about them.

Basically, any professional water diviner can find anything under the ground if it’s there. I’ve been involved in looking for buried blue asbestos and, on one occasion, WWII ordnance.

Last year, after doing a complicated job, I asked the organisation if someone would write up a story from the client’s point of view, especially as I never know the thinking behind the decisions to bring me in.

Here is the start of the story:

“We are a large hospital complex and had discovered a severe problem with a costly water leak (600 gallons a day) which was getting bigger by the day. We knew that chlorine was present, so it had to be from the mains supply, but ours is a big site with playing fields and a multitude of buildings.

“Our playing fields are on a downward slope leading to a high bank which drops down to a pavement and a road. We could see water leeching from the bank but it covered a fair distance, so the real exit point was a mystery.

“The water could have been coming from anywhere and the area is so large that it would have been not only very expensive but damaging to the grounds, including mature trees, to bring in heavy machinery on a whim.

“After much discussion we decided to see if a water diviner could help. Scanning the Internet, we found one and, on agreeing terms, in due course John baker arrived on site. We had not seen a water diviner at work before, so it was going to be an experience.”

The rest of the story is on my website, together with pictures.