Underground river discovered

The search for water has made a big splash at Marrawah. Helen Kempton reports. Water diviner finds `legendary' Marrawah water table

FOR TWO centuries, the farmers of Marrawah have mulled over a theory that an underground river flowed below their sandy soil.

Many have looked for it over the years but came up dry.

However, two months ago, water diviner and Marrawah publican Peter Benson found the "legendary" subterranean river as he looked for water on the property of Circular Head Mayor Ross Hine.

He found it using just two copper-coated steel rods and a great deal of patience.

And what he found surpassed all expectations.

The underground river is 30m wide, runs for many kilometres from near Dismal Swamp to the sea and is now spewing out five million litres of fresh water a day on to Mr Hine's property.

"Since this area was settled there has been talk that there was an underground river somewhere in the district," Mr Benson said.

"People have tried to find it over the last two centuries. And now I have."

Don't ask him how the rods work - Peter Benson doesn't really know.

But then again, when inventor Thomas Edison was asked what electricity was, he replied: "I don't know, but it's there so let's use it".

"I don't know how it works really, if it is connected to magnetic forces or perhaps electricity. Maybe a lack of water in the body makes you seek it out," Mr Benson said.

"That would make sense in my case.

"I can find water but can't abide the stuff myself. It makes me sick - I have had one glass in the past 15 years and it made me vomit.

"I have better things to drink."

The art of water divining is shrouded in mystery and attracts a fair degree of scepticism.

But people do find water using divining rods or willow twigs and have done so for more than 7000 years.

They have also found missing people, rivers of oil and minerals using the same technique.

The Egyptians and the ancient Chinese kings used images of forked rods in some of their artwork and in the Middle Ages divining, or dowsing, was used to find coal deposits.

Last century, dowsing was used in archeological and geological work and by utility companies looking for damaged pipes and cables.

"I certainly don't roll around on the ground having convulsions and foaming at the mouth when I find water," Mr Benson said.

"There are a lot of diviners out there but they don't advertise the fact for fear that they will be called a crackpot.

"I suppose you could call it a gift but I understand that one in every 20 or so people have the ability."

A hole has been drilled 40m down into the earth on Mr Hine's property to access the river below.

About five million litres a day (or 1825 megalitres a year) is coming to the surface without the aid of a pump.

The water is worth millions of dollars and its discovery has the community talking.

Mr Hine said that he would call for expressions of interest in an irrigation scheme to water Marrawah pasture.

"We must use it in the best possible way," Mr Hine said.

This far North-West tip of Tasmania receives 52 inches (about 1300mm) of rain a year.

"But that is still not enough because it doesn't always fall when you need it," Mr Benson said.

"With an underground supply you can regulate water output."

Marrawah's sandy soils do not support dam building and there are no above-ground creeks or rivers in the area.

But there are underground river system throughout Tasmania, Mr Benson said, even in the dry Midlands.

"The Great Lake has to drain somewhere," he said.

"You simply cannot tell from above ground what is happening below. There is fresh water on top of Table Cape and on the Nut.

"But I can't find where farmers want it all the time. I can only find it where it is."

The rods tell Mr Benson how wide and deep an underground water course is and how much water it contains.

"Water is are most precious resource on the planet," he said.

"There will be world wars fought over fresh water one day."