Technical Abstract: Conservation tillage has significant potential as a management tool for cotton production on sandy drought-prone soils. Plant residue remaining at the soil surface from prior crops serves as a vapor barrier against water loss, reduces raindrop impact energy, slows surface runoff, and often increases infiltration. By increasing infiltration, the potential for greater plant available water can be enhanced and irrigation requirements reduced. Surface runoff and lateral subsurface flow were measured on six 0.2 ha plots in South Georgia in order to quantify the effects of conservation tillage. Significant differences in water losses were observed between the conventionally and strip tilled plots. Surface runoff from the conventionally tilled plots exceed that from the strip tilled plots while subsurface losses were reversed. Surface runoff losses from the conventionally tilled plots exceeded those from the strip tilled plots by 80%. Subsurface losses from the strip tilled plots exceeded those from the conventionally tilled plots by 67%. Overall, a net annual gain of 60 mm of water was observed for the strip till plots.