California drought: Water witches in demand as wells run dry

Sacramento --

The calls started in October, when the rain was supposed to come. Rob Thompson's phone kept ringing - a farmer in Fresno, a winemaker in Napa Valley, a rancher in Yreka.

All were looking for water. And they had heard Thompson could find it using an ancient method most call unorthodox, if not ridiculous. Thompson is a dowser, a person who believes they have the ability to locate water or precious metals deep underground using rods, sticks or a pendulum to guide them.

And across drought-stricken California, dowsers, or water witches as they are often called, are in demand. Even those skeptical of the scientifically unproven method are turning to dowsers.

"I'm two or three weeks backlogged right now," said Thompson, a third-generation dowser in Santa Rosa.

California is facing one of the most withering droughts on record, with nearly every part of the state classified as being in a "severe drought," according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. With water deliveries to farmers cut back, then cut off, many are turning to their wells for relief only to find them dry. Too many straws in the cup, groundwater experts have said about the dropping water levels.

That means throughout the state, new wells are being dug.

Rob Thompson uses his divining rods to dowse for water at Matanzas Creek Winery in Santa Rosa. The stainless steel rods cross the closer he comes to an underground water source. Rob Thompson uses his divining rods to dowse for water at Matanzas Creek Winery in Santa Rosa. The stainless steel rods cross the closer he comes to an underground water source. Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close California drought: Water witches in demand as wells run dry 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

And that's big business for dowsers, who say they can find the best location at a fraction of the cost of hiring a geologist.

Mondavi a dowser

"Pretty much all the farmers I know won't drill a well if they don't have a dowser," said Napa Valley vintner Marc Mondavi - of the famous winemaking family - who happens to be a dowser. "Pretty much all of my weekends are spent dowsing. I'm backlogged."

Experts say water dowsing dates back 5,000 to 8,000 years, with cave paintings in northwestern Africa believed to show the first water dowser. Dowsers say the practice goes back even further.

"At least 10,000 years," said Sandee Mac, president of the American Society of Dowsers. "There is evidence in tombs of people using pendulums, which is a dowsing instrument."

Generally, dowsers use a forked stick, rods or pendulum to find resources hundreds of feet underground, from water to oil to gold. There are also dowsers who focus on health and healing, and others that say they can locate missing relatives or pets.

Knowing where to dig

Water dowsers say the way it works is by listening to their bodies - they feel a reaction in how the stick or rods move or the pendulum swings, many times not only pointing to where water is, but purporting to know exactly how deep to dig and how much it will yield.

"I use stainless steel rods to point me to the best place to drill and when I get over it the rods cross," Thompson said. "I use a pendulum to figure out how deep the well will be and how many gallons per minute (it will produce). I've been very successful doing that."

Geologists have long discredited the practice, saying successful dowsing is simply the result of water being hard to miss in many areas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, an independent federal research agency in the Department of Interior that studies groundwater. The agency speculates there are thousands of dowsers practicing in the United States.

"There is no scientific evidence that dowsing works," said Thomas Harter, a UC Davis professor who specializes in groundwater issues. "A lot of dowsers operate in areas where there is a lot of groundwater to begin with."

Dowser Greg Storozuk said he understands the skepticism. He was once a critic, too.

From skeptic to believer

"I said it was a big bunch of crap and it didn't work," said Storozuk, who lives in Edgewater, Colo.

Just out of college, Storozuk said his cousin put steel rods in his hands and told him to imagine an underground stream.

"I held them and started to walk when all of the sudden, the rods swung open," he said. "I thought holy smokes I didn't do that."

He's been a professional water dowser since. Annual conventions for the American Society of Dowsers are mostly filled with hundreds of older folks, Storozuk said, leaving him worried there won't be enough water dowsers for the next generation.

"That's the plight of the dowser," he said. "We can't live without water. I think nature instilled us with the instinct. Humans can do this if they choose to. Most people today don't choose to get into the water aspect of dowsing."

With much of the Southwest experiencing droughts, Storozuk said he's trying to match thirsty property owners with master dowsers, many of whom work on donation.

"In California, dowsers used to work around once a week," he said. "That has increased tremendously. Now, some people are doing a dozen or more a week. Bottom line is it works. Some people say it's from God, other people say it's Earth's energy, and geologists say it's a bunch of crap."

In the Napa Valley, Mondavi has earned a reputation for his divining abilities, having helped out some of the biggest names in the business, including Rombauer Vineyards in St. Helena and Bronco Wine Co. in Stanislaus County, which makes Charles Shaw's Two-Buck Chuck and dozens of other popular wine brands. He's also pinpointed locations for wells on his family's winery, Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena.

Wine, dowsing going well

Despite the name recognition, Mondavi said he still gets a sideways look every once in a while.

"I had a property owner looking at me like I hit my head," Mondavi said. "I found him a hell of a well. He turned into a believer."

Two years ago, Mondavi released a new label - a Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay called the Divining Rod - a tribute to his dowsing.

Like his weekend dowsing job, the wine is doing well, Mondavi said.

"It's up 102 percent over the previous year," he said.