In February, Jim Rockstad, an avocado farmer in San Luis Obispo, Calif., says he drilled several dry holes as deep as 600 ft looking for water for his crops. So he called in Varian.

After doing a survey, Varian told Rockstad where to drill and said he would find water between 115 ft and 180 ft underground. However, Varian added, "If you go over 180 feet, you're throwing your money away."

"We hit water between 115 and 180 feet three times," says Rockstad. The water pressure was four to five gallons a minute, and Rockstad wanted to try for more. "I decided I [wouldn't] listen to Richard and went down to 215 feet," Rockstad says. "We did not hit any water." He adds that, if it's collected aboveground, four to five gallons a minute is more than enough for his avocados. "I don't believe in witching, but he made a believer out of me," says Rockstad.

David Moench, owner of David & Sons' Drilling Co., Oroville, Calif., says he has drilled wells for years. "Out in Butte County, we drilled on this piece of land and didn't hit water," says Moench. The client brought in Varian, who advised Moench where to drill, and Moench hit a 50-gallon-per-minute well.

"That was a strong well, so I have to give him credit for it," admits Moench, but he didn't even get Varian's business card after the job. "One well don't tell me nothing."

"There was a witcher who had a device made back in England. This old man was in his 80s, he had whalebone on the end of it with a bunch of minerals," says Moench. "I put him in areas that were really tough for water, and we hit 33 [wells] straight." Moench wanted to go into partnership and guarantee water on the first drill, but then the witcher came up with eight dry holes in a row. Since then, the witcher has regressed to the mean, says Moench. This has soured Moench on dowsers in general.

Varian isn't using whalebone or a forked stick like traditional water witches. He's using science and an old device to back his guarantee. "If there's water there, we'll find it," he says.

Varian has hit more than 50 wells so far and has never missed, he says. His next project is "a 50,000-tree apple orchard in Stanislaus County."