Surface barriers for waste disposal sites should preventwaste water and gas emission into the environment. It isnecessary to assess their proper operation by monitoring thewater regime of the containment. A set of three new water contentmeasuring devices has been developed that provide an economicalsolution for monitoring the moisture distribution and waterdynamic. They will give an early warning service if the barriersystem is at risk of being damaged. The cryo soil moisture sensor`LUMBRICUS' is an in situ self-calibrating absolute water contentmeasuring device. It measures moisture profiles at spot locationsdown to 2.5 m depth with an accuracy of better than 1.5% and adepth resolution of 0.03 m. The sensor inherently measuresdensity changes and initial cracks of shrinking materials likeclay minerals. The large area soil moisture sensor `TAUPE' is amoisture sensitive electric cable network to be buried in themineral barrier material of the cover. A report will be givenwith results and experiences on an exemplary installation at theWaste Disposal Facility Karlsruhe-West. 800 m2 of the barrierconstruction have been continuously monitored since December1997. Volumetric water content differences of 1.5% have beendetected and localised within 4 m. This device is alreadyinstalled in two other waste disposal sites. A modified `TAUPE'was constructed for the control of tunnels and river dams aswell. Thin sheet moisture sensor `FORMI' is specifically designedfor moisture measurements in liners like bentonite, textile andplastic. Due to its flexibility it follows the curvature of theliner. The sensor measures independently from neighbouringmaterials and can be matched to a wide range of differentthickness of the material. The sensors are patented in several countries.