Measuring Insitu Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (Ksat) Using the Automated Aardvark Permeameter.

Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (Ksat) is the basic input for designing waste-water treatment, storm water disposal, tile drainage, irrigation potential, and many other environmental projects.  The collection of this data can be tedious and time consuming. Aardvark Permeameter was developed as an accurate, efficient and automated method for measuring soil permeability in field condition. 

Aardvark Permeameter was used for evaluating targeted soils for soil permeability in new agricultural research farm for the University of Georgia. An initial stage of evaluation was to survey and convert specific soils, water and biological data to a GIS System. 

Automated Aardvark Permeameter proved to be a user-friendly device. In a single day, 27 individual borehole measurements were completed successfully by one person using Aardvark Permeameter. Automated feature of Aardvark Permeameter allowed the team to conduct many other research aspects (measurements such as digital elevation, borehole descriptions, or tree inventory) while permeability is being measured automatically.

The Automated Aardvark Permeameter is well suited for measuring permeability, collecting data, and designing reports. It helps saving a great amount of time (compared to conventional permeameters) by giving operator the freedom of moving around and performing other necessary measurements and activities.