Agricultural waste lagoons are the predominant method currently utilized
to contain large quantities of livestock by-products such as manure. Clay
liners are the most common materials used to line the bottom of storage
lagoons in order to prevent waste effluent seepage. Clay liners are an
economical lining material and have a hydraulic conductivity of less than
1.times.10.sup.-7 cm/s. Proper containment of waste in storage lagoons is
critical to avoid the implications of local groundwater contamination. A
hydraulic conductivity probe was designed to alleviate the negative
aspects of the current methods used to determine hydraulic conductivity.
The probe includes a housing for insertion into the ground, electrical
potential gradient means for generating an electrical potential gradient
in the ground and pressure sensing means for measuring changes in
pressure in the ground.