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The article deals with the techniques of soil water content determination using microwave radiation. Its practical application would allow solving the problems of resource efficiency in geotechnical survey due to reduction of energy and resource intensity of laboratory analysis as well as its acceleration by means of decreasing labour intensity and, as a result, cost reduction. The article presents a detail analysis of approaches to soil water content determination and soil drying, considers its features and application. The study in soil of different composition, typical for Western Siberia including organic and organic-mineral ones, is a peculiarity of the given article, which makes it rather topical. The article compares and analyzes the results of the investigation into soil water content, which are obtained via conventional techniques and the original one developed by the authors, consisting in microwave drying. The authors also give recommendation on microwave technique application to dry soil.