In the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, irrigation has enabled previously unarable tracts of land to be used for a wide variety of agricultural activities. Unfortunately many of these areas have associated with them stores of soluble salts which, with time and rising water tables, accumulate in the surface of soil profiles causing widespread, crop-damaging salinisation and waterlogging. In such areas where irrigation is considered appropriate, baseline data is required to monitor the changes in the water balance and salt status of the soil profiles. In this note the current methods available for salinity investigations are discussed as well as geostatistical methods which can assist in the collection and interpretation of the data collected. Using these techniques the results of recent exploratory investigations of salinity in the lower Namoi valley are presented.