4.1 Future Experiments

Based on the assumption that the observed phenomenon is attributable to a biophysical stimulation-reaction mechanism, several disciplines from science and technology could contribute towards a solution of the many questions associated with the successful activity of dowsers. Above all, research should be carried out towards two different goals, namely within the field of physics and earth sciences in the direction of the "transmitter" (signal sources), and within the relevant branches of medicine, biology and biophysics in the direction of the "receiver" (signal detector). In the following some test situations related to earth sciences will be described which, according to the results and observations of the reported projects, might be worthwhile considering for future test series. The results described in parts 1 and 2 lead to the conclusion that, with some indicated restrictions and under certain indicated circumstances, a category of spatially extended geological anomalies or perturbations can be perceived with sufficient reliability by a few qualified dowsers. This refers especially to water carrying fracture systems in hard rock, karst caverns and fracture zones without water reserves. In principle, these conclusions suggest a series of informative tests whose scope and diversified aims exceed the previous approaches reported here.

The experiences gained from the Munich project have repeatedly revealed that certain artificial test situations, such as the attempts to locate pipes or other (small) objects, do not yield notable success rates and, therefore, must be rejected as general qualifying tests for dowsers. In particular, one should strictly refuse "tests" which are allegedly designed to prove the principal existence or non-existence of the dowsing phenomenon, but test only such types of claim which are highly exotic and/or refer to so-called dowsing abilities which have never been made likely by existing serious evidence. For example, certain biased "skeptics" often produce some turmoil by publicizing experiments, in which naive and self-appointed dowsers have to pass all sorts of unrealistic tests, such as the location of hidden coins or other small objects—tests which, for a long time, have been well-known to lead to failure, especially when high success rates have been aimed at.

By contrast, serious scientific tests and experiments with respect to the present context ought to fulfill two conditions: first, a reasonable success rate must already have been observed in similar tests carried out in the past and, second, the test situation has to be well-known in terms of earth-scientific data, and the use of as many geotechnical measuring procedures as possible should be guaranteed. Only then may one hope for a clarification of the many still open questions and a contribution to new insight when previously communicated experiments are repeated and appropriately modified. In particular, the search for correlations between indications produced by dowsers and geologically well defined sub-soil conditions could offer the chance of a better estimation of the real and effective performance capacity given by the dowsing technique and, thus, its realistic range of application.

The necessary tests should be carried out by a team of experts whose task would be as follows: selection of appropriate test areas, implementation of the tests with selected dowsers, geotechnical investigations of the test sites (especially mapping by means of the EM and VLF methods and measurements of the surface vibrations), including excavations and exploration drillings, as well as an evaluation of the results. A project of this type would enable a better description of the still unknown mechanism of the location-dependent dowsing reactions, the development of qualifying tests for dowsers, and the establishment of criteria for the practical assignment of dowsers for geological activities in the field. As a distant aim one might consider an exploitation of the results and revelations which, perhaps, will be obtained, especially with respect to the improvement of geo-technical instruments for groundwater prospecting and location of anomalies in the underground. According to the observations of successful dowsing activities which seem to be reasonably reliable, possible promising test sites and test situations may be ordered into at least three categories:

Streamlets Close to the Surface. The task consists in locating locally confined streams with small water flow and little depth of, say, a few meters below ground with an accuracy of, say, one meter. That kind of experiment succeeded on Verde Isl and within the scope of dug well location (part 1.2) and is worthwhile for controlled repetition. By means of dug holes (wells) the exact constitution of the underground could be clarified so that the predictions of both the dowsers and the conventional experts could be checked.

Deep Fracture-Bound Water. This test deals with the detection of fracture zones in hard rock which do not necessarily outcrop at the surface, and may be covered with thicker layers and sediments which may even carry surface water. Such situations typically occur in dry zones and have been described in detail within the Sri Lanka project (part 1.1). Exact knowledge about the actual conditions in the underground can only be provided by several very closely spaced, vertical test drillings. Fundamental parameters are extensions of the fracture zone (width), quantity of the extractable water (yield), as well as electrical conductivity of the fractured walls and water eventually encountered. The location of dry fracture zones without any provable water resource would represent a particularly revealing variation of the experiment.

Galleries and Caverns in Karst Formations. The experience gathered within both the projects in Congo and on Gotland (see part 1.4 and 2.3) show that sufficiently extended cavities in karst formations can be the object of experiments. The relevant depths should lie between a few meters and 30 meters. It has been shown that a verification of the prevailing conditions is feasible by technical measurements, provided that the area is appropriately selected. Small test drillings may complete the necessary base of information.

Finally, it should be pointed out that many other sites are appropriate for the purpose of tests, as long as underground anomalies in terms of locality and quality are geologically well-known. Thus, different dowsing tests can be thought of, such as above systems with cracks or caverns which have been measured in detail, in areas with numerous existing observation drillings, or above trenches in loose rock which are sufficiently deep, filled up again, and on whose bottom pipes may be placed, carrying water or not. In any case, the target sites should never be recognizable by normal sensory means; otherwise, adequate measures have to be applied to shield the tested persons effectively during the tests.

In no case is it realistic to anticipate that dowsers are able to predict any arbitrary situation, as is repeatedly asserted by uncritical parties. For this reason, future tests should not only be carried out in order to check certain supposed capacities of dowsers, which are only weakly observed, but to determine the limits of comparatively reliable dowsing techniques. In this way, by means of selected geophysical tasks, it may be established where the dowser will be successful and where he will fail. Where he is successful the entire available range of modern measuring techniques should be put into action in order to search for local field gradients and anomalies. By the exclusion principle, many tests of that kind performed in geologically different areas might then help to find out what kind of physical information a dowser may perceive.

Moreover, there is the opportunity to scrutinize the activity of those dowsers who are engaged in practical water prospecting and definitely display an unusual success rate, so far unexplained. Parts 1 and 2.4 demonstrate the existence of such persons and stress that it would be very revealing if competent geoscientists would accompany and observe these cases in detail. That way, the diverse indications and circumstances of the respective prospecting cases would be sufficiently well known to permit clear conclusions about the supposed reality of the dowsing phenomenon.

With regard to the development of theoretical models one must not ignore the already outlined observation that dowsers who were successful in indicating a rather low water yield during the location of fissures in moderately weathered rock could, by comparison, not or only with vanishingly small success sense huge quantities of water flowing through artificial pipes of well confined dimensions. Accordingly, one could try to find out how large water domains or extended electrically conducting surfaces have to be in order to be recognized by dowsing techniques. In particular, one should check the well-founded supposition that dowsers, contrary to common opinion, do not at all react to water as a chemical substance, whether flowing or stationary, but rather are susceptible to secondary effects such as those that are induced, for example, by water running along fracture walls, thereby producing aggradations which modify and increase the conductivity of the affected rock areas.

It is worthwhile to add here, that due to the distribution of the first edition of this report a specially arranged symposium took place in July 1992, entitled Unconventional Water Prospecting (Frankfurt a.M., Germany). The participating scientists, mainly members of the earth science community, agreed that a well designed research project ought to be carried out along the lines discussed above. Such actions are also expected to stimulate replication tests by independent researchers; from a scientific point of view this is absolutely necessary because otherwise no long-term acceptance of the phenomenon, along with its incorporation into accepted knowledge, can ever be attained.

Especially in larger projects, e.g. within the detailed GTZ programs for water prospecting and well implementation in arid areas, integrated dowsers would play a decisive, but still comparatively small role. The important project preparation work would remain totally unmodified and hydrogeological investigations in the target areas would likewise remain. The appointment of dowsers should only be planned for pinpointing of effective drilling points. But even then the presence of a competent geologist is advisable whose task would be to check the dowser's predictions from the geological and (drill) technical side and to reach the best possible consensus with the dowser.

A model for integration of this type would present different advantages. First of all, projects for rural drinking water supplies in dry areas with crystalline or karst rock basement could be carried out much more efficiently in many cases. In such programs, mostly hand pumps of a limited capacity have to be installed; for this reason, the location of smaller water carrying fractures is perfectly adequate, but as has been depicted above, if these sites are detectable conventionally, this can only be done by means of an enormous input, especially when covering layers are thick. In such cases, the dowsing method does represent an attractive additional alternative, even when the desired drilling point lies in a more populated area where the use of classical prospecting procedures is made even more difficult due to problems arising from many perturbation effects.

Finally, it must not be overlooked that the proposed model of integration, presently tested by GTZ in a simple version during the Namibia program (part 1.10), would be of great help in many other areas already prior to its more thorough scientific scrutinization. The rapidly growing water shortage in many regions of the world cannot be relieved or stopped within acceptable time by the application of presently available conventional techniques. In addition to existing efforts, immediate use of the suggested integration model would enable a significant contribution to the advancement of water supply programs, beneficial for many people.

In the long term, there is the possibility to substantiate the performance of successful dowsers by technical measuring procedures and to optimize accordingly prospecting methods. In this connection, it may be noted that in recent years a number of sensory and analytical abilities of highest quality exhibited by biological organisms have been reconstructed by bionic techniques and successfully applied. Given that case, one could ultimately dispense with dowsers, but as long as this goal is not at hand an application of the quoted integration model may be regarded as an effective and economic interim solution. In the meanwhile it remains to hope that the results published and arguments presented in the present report will contribute to progress along that direction and induce a more frequent use of the still unconventional prospecting method.