In hydrogeology, the information related to the piezometric surface and hydraulic properties is usually obtained from in situ measurements in a set of piezometers. However, this approach is intrusive and depends on the number of available piezometers. This explains why, in the last decade, research scientists looked for a new geophysical method able to determine the piezometric head variations and the groundwater flow parameters in a non-intrusive way. The self-potential method offers such possibility. Indeed, the flow of groundwater is responsible for a measurable electrical field owing to the electrokinetic coupling between the water flux and the electrical current density. This electrokinetic coupling is one of the sources for the so-called self-potential signals measured passively at the ground surface with non-polarisable electrodes. Field and laboratory experiments were undertaken in order to measure the electric signals of a groundwater flow during pumping and infiltration tests. The field and laboratory results prove the capacity of the self-potential method to follow the groundwater flow in real time. They indicate that the self-potential variations are linearly related, at the first order, to the piezometric head variations. These experiences show the usefulness of the self-potential method to monitor the groundwater flow and to estimate the groundwater flow parameters.
