Results and current status of the water Cherenkov detector development forthe Auger surface array

The Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector in which 3000 water Cherenkov de tectors (WCD) operate in coincidence with atmospheric fluorescence detector s. Due to the limited duty cycle of the later the bulk of the data is provi ded by the surface detector array. Hence, the capacity of WCDs to discrimin ate the muonic from the electromagnetic component within air showers, and t hereby provide a measure of the composition, is of great interest. This wor k describes performance studies of the capacity of WCDs to separate the muo nic from the electromagnetic component of simulated air shower signals as t hey will be recorded in the huger detectors. In addition recent results fro m the water Cherenkov prototype detectors triggered by the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA) upon detection of extended air showers with energies a bove 10(18) eV will be presented.