ABSTRACTThe measure of earth resistivity is a possible means of detecting and outlining zones of ground‐water contamination where a resistivity contrast exists between contaminated and unconcaminated ground water.As a preliminary evaluation of the use of electrical resistivity for defining zones of contaminated ground water, five sites on Long Island and three sites in western Texas were examined. The surveys at three of the Long Island sites and at one of the western Texas sites were at least partially successful in their objectives. The lack of success at the other sites is attributed to the particular physical conditions that existed.Further effort toward developing electrical resistivity as a method for evaluating variations in ground‐water quality is encoura