Boudreau's article, from the title to the last words, is no more than a vitriolic tirade against water diviners from a bigot who, perhaps, is a little more jealous of diviners' skills and their success than he would like to admit.
It demonstrates (A) the author's lamentable lack of scientific discipline, and (B) his very poor understanding of the whole subject of water divining......( Certainly, it has nothing whatever to do with witchcraft or dead cats ! )
Above all; I find the author's style and attitude offensive and sickeningly patronising.
Boudreau would have us all bow down before the golden idol of Science, and close his readers' minds to the great horizons of human potential, while he tries to crucify diviners and other heretics; or burn them at the stake, perhaps ?!
So eager is he, in his anger, to destroy his adversaries, that he indulges himself in slander, misrepresentation, and ridicule, and fails to present any coherent scientific or statistical evidence to support his mainly anecdotal arguments.
It is obvious to any educated reader that his dissertation displays some of the worst vices of scientific fanaticism, and very few, if any, of Science's many virtues.
Through Boudreau's blind prejudice, Water Divining has been seriously misrepresented, and it is abundantly clear to me that he is not qualified to write authoritatively on this subject.
Of course, it would be hypocritical of me to say this, if I were not a better qualified authority on the subject myself.....
As it happens, I also am a geologist and practising groundwater consultant, based in Scotland, with long experience of both mineral exploration and hydrogeology in the Southern and Northern hemispheres; that is at least equal to the pedigree upheld by Boudreau in his introduction to the article.
Unlike Boudreau, however, I do not stand myself on a pedestal to preach before that golden idol of Science; but I maintain an open mind and would not pour scorn on a practice that has survived successfully for more than a thousand years ( and even through the religious ravages of the reformation ) on the basis of the relatively young and inexact science of hydrogeology that can claim a history of little more than one century.
In Britain and Europe we have a great sense of History, and people tend to be less hot-headed about topics such as this.
Ancient crafts and skills are respected and preserved as an important part of European heritage.
In my young and foolish days my scientific training made me sceptical of such strange phenomena that could not be explained by science; but my life taught me to question everything, especially science. Yes, there are a great many wonders in this world and in this universe that can not be explained by science, and still more, where scientists have at present, or through some period in the past, got the "wrong end of the stick".
Boudreau should be reminded that when a scientist no longer questions science, he ceases to be a scientist.
Geologically aware water divining, or Geodivining as I call it, makes it possible to consistently and accurately delineate and assess groundwater aquifers of all kinds, in all geological environments, in advance of drilling, with a degree of precision far beyond the capability of even the best geophysical instruments.
I regularly use all the divining techniques that Boudreau scoffs at, especially the map-dowsing; and I find that they are all highly effective, to the extent that I am able to successfully operate a location- depth- & yield-specific money-back guarantee system that is unique in the U.K.
No ordinary hydrogeologist could afford to take such risks because conventional hydro-prospecting success rates are generally
much too low to make such a scheme viable.
I have earned a reputation for troubleshooting, and a substantial proportion of my surveys are for clients or drilling contractors who have drilled one or more low-yielding or dry boreholes in hydrogeologically unfavourable conditions, ( In some instances as many as twelve dry holes had been drilled before I was called in ), yet even with all these difficult cases,using Geodivining I am able to satisfy the full water supply requirements of over 80% of my clients from a single borehole, or ( for some high volume consumers ) from a specified number of exactly located boreholes. Another 13% get a useful supply of water, and only 7% fail.
My boreholes typically outperform normal hydrological yield expectations by factors of 2X to over 20X.
These are not empty claims. I have the reports, logs, and statistics to prove them.
Every one of my hundreds of clients, from the largest to the smallest, receives a full written report of my findings, with maps and cross sections, explaining the general geology and the Geodivining details, and individual drilling instructions for exact locations giving the depths to be drilled, and the expected yields; along with technical advice as necessary.
The Drilling Contractors always get a copy, and I keep one for my own records. I keep up-to-date records of all borehole results and I can assure readers that the statistics I have quoted are absolutely real.
Anyone wishing to know more about my methods, or to commission a survey, may request my detailed 20-page brochure about Geodivining in Scotland, via e-mail at: geodivining.international@virgin.net
One notable scientific study conducted jointly by GTZ GmbH and the University of Munich Physics department extended over about 10 years and was completed in 1991. The first edition of the report was published in German only, but an English translation of the second edition was published in 1993.
This is the largest, most thorough and far reaching scientific study of the 'dowsing' or 'water divining' phenomenon ever made, and is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in the subject.
The publishers are:
The libraries index reference is:
Betz, a Professor of Physics at Munich, documents a number of significant tests of the divining phenomenon, and principally the achievements of an Engineer on the GTZ Project Management staff, Hans Schroter, who was also a skilled diviner.
Schroter worked alongside professional Hydrogeologists on a variety of groundwater development projects in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, Congo, Niger, Yemen, Cape Verde Islands, Kenya, Namibia, and the Sinai peninsula in Egypt; to locate over 2000 boreholes with project success rates ranging from 80% to 96%....even in these desert areas where the comparable conventional methods achieved success rates of only 10 to 50%.
Statistical evaluation of Schroter's ability was also done in a controlled experiment, in a direct comparison with the efforts of an expert Hydrogeology & Geophysics team. Targets for Minimum Individual Borehole Yield and Total Yield were set, and under these test conditions Schroter proved to be more successful than the Hydrogeology team by a factor of 4X !
One man on his own, with his humble faith and his divining rod, is also a whole lot less costly than a team of experts and heaps of expensive electronics.
Of course Hydrogeology is an important and valuable science, but as every geologist knows, it is an inexact science, and if more geologists were a little less proud, they could learn a lot and benefit greatly from working together with dowsers, and learning to divine for water themselves, as I did....... I am a competent geologist and professional water diviner; not a witch !!
Conversely, Diviners have a responsibility to themselves, to their art, and to their clients, to be as thorough and professional as possible about their work, and to develop a good understanding of hydrogeology as well.
One of my ideals is to see an end to the adversarial politics between geologists and diviners, and to see the best of geoscience and divining being applied together to the majority of groundwater developments, to the benefit of all.
Now I'll concede that as in any other trade or profession, including geology; there is a range of expertise and skill among water diviners, good, bad, and indifferent; and it may be that E.H. Boudreau has had some limited experience of a bad one.
This can not in any way justify his clumsy attempt to publicly crucify all water diviners, but if it is so, then we must excuse his rashness, for by closing his mind he has already hung himself in a noose of his own making.
Doug Bates: geodivining_international@virgin.net Geodivining International Scotland, January 1999.