TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY CAMILLE CAMDESSUS: "In California, a dowser to the rescue of farmers desperate for water."
TOPSHOT - Water witcher David Sagouspe poses for a photo under a dust-covered almond tree, July 24, 2021 on a farm in Fresno, California. - Holding a V-shaped branch point down, David Sagouspe examines the cracked soil of a California farm. Under the blazing sun, he takes a breath and sets off, mechanically turning the branch five times towards the sky and five times towards the ground. He stops, marks the spot with a pink flag and nods. "People would pay a lot of money for that strata right there," he says, referring to underground water. For more than 40 years, Sagouspe has worked as a dowser, also known as a "water witch," offering to help the largest farmers in central California find groundwater. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)