This paper focuses on problem of the coal combustion waste use. The possibility of using the coal ash and slug as an additional layer of road pavement is considered. Particular attention is paid to water permeability, which along with the mechanical properties determines the possibility of their use as pavement layers. A series of laboratory studies on samples from the two ash dumps were conducted. This made it possible to determine the values of permeability coefficient for various types of waste having different densities. The research was conducted in laboratory on the equipment that allowed us to change the value of hydraulic gradient (for individual experiments). It was found that filtration begins only when the initial filtration gradients are exceeded, which is associated with the features of composition and structure of coal ash and slug. These results can be used to make a final decision on feasibility of using the coal waste as a layer of road pavement.