Winter Storm Titan may have dumped record snow and rain on California, but the much-needed precipitation still hasn't fully eased the state's worst drought on record. And with water at a premium, California's farmers have been hit particularly hard by measures aimed at conserving what little water the state has remaining.
So farmers are turning to an unusual, some might say, mystical, resource to help find any water lost to the naked eye: dowsers, also known as water witches.
Practitioners of dowsing use rudimentary tools - usually copper sticks or wooden "divining rods" that resemble large wishbones - and what they describe as a natural energy to find water or minerals hidden deep underground.
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While both state and federal water scientists disapprove of dowsing, California "witchers" are busy as farmers seek to drill more groundwater wells due to the state's record drought that persists despite recent rain.
The nation's fourth-largest wine maker, Bronco Wine Co., says it uses dowsers on its 40,000 acres of California vineyards, and dozens of smaller farmers and homeowners looking for wells on their property also pay for dowsers. Nationwide, the American Society of Dowsers, Inc. boasts dozens of local chapters, which meet annually at a conference.
"It's kind of bizarre. Scientists don't believe in it, but I do and most of the farmers in the Valley do," said Marc Mondavi, a vineyard owner whose family has been growing grapes and making wine since the mid-20th century in the Napa Valley.
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