Don’t pour cold water over the idea of dowsing

SIR – There is a very good reason that major water companies use water divining (report, November 22) rather than modern technology to find lost water supply pipes: divining is a much quicker and more reliable method, particularly for finding plastic pipes.

I am generally sceptical about anything which seems to have no scientific basis. However, I have seen the method used to reveal a two-inch private supply pipe in the middle of a five-acre paddock, far from where it seemed likely to be.

In another instance it was used to locate an 18-inch water main under an A40 carriageway, six to eight feet from where the water company’s map had located it. I have no idea why dowsing works, but I am convinced that it does.

Guy Attfield

Dursley, Gloucestershire

SIR – My husband asked a water diviner from Arles to visit a property in Provence where the well had dried up.

The water diviner, with his wands whirring, announced that there was a large quantity of water in a certain spot, 262ft underground.

My husband hired a team to drill in the place he had indicated; they hit water at 269ft. This was 12 years ago and the water is still flowing.