Dowser Defends Art

I do not mind being ridiculed if I have an opportunity to answer those who ridicule me. And that opportunity I was not given by the San Diego Water Authority on the subject of dowsing to find water to meet the needs of San Diego County (“Dowsers Come Up Dry at Meeting,” April 12). For this occasion, they set up a “special, morning meeting with attendance not required” (but with the impression to me that I’d be addressing the whole group). Only a half-dozen or so of the 34 members showed up.

Then, at the regular meeting in the afternoon (which I had not been invited to address), the reporters were treated to a scurrilous attack on dowsing as a means for locating sources of underground water, needed to meet even present requirements. And a number of those who launched this attack had not even been present at the morning meeting.

How important it is to maintain an open mind and to get all facts for the solution of the dreadful water problem facing Southern California. And yet, those with minds closed and hands outstretched toward the pockets of the taxpayer were certainly in the “driver’s seat” that day!

Relative to the value of dowsing toward solving the acute water problem, the facts are these:

1. Dowsing does work and can be an effective tool toward finding needed sources of underground, potable water that have so far eluded the hydrologists and drillers working with the Water Authority.

2. Just how dowsing works is a matter for conjecture. (We believe that it is a God-given capability of all mankind, dating to the time of creation when man, no doubt, faced a very hostile environment but was able to survive as a species due to being able to find water, food and shelter.) That it does work is the important thing.

3. There is little doubt but that dowsing works beyond the five senses. However, we have found that almost anyone who keeps an open mind (i.e., a positive attitude) can, when trained, dowse effectively.

4. Today, many top scientists in various fields have seen dowsing work and know that it works (despite the lack of scientific formulae).

For who can doubt the effectiveness of dowsing for underground water when they see the many hundreds of wells whose locations have been determined by dowers? And just how many hydrologists and drillers can boast a record of 95% success in their drillings, as have such California dowsers as Jack Livingston, Wayne Thompson and Bill Shaw. Extremely few, I am sure!

GERALD ESTEP

San Diego