Fertigation is widely practiced in irrigated crop production systems. Opportunities for enhancing the efficiency of surface fertigation exists but challenges remain. Often the lack of design and management tools and procedures limit the potential benefits that can be obtained from surface fertigation practices. We have conducted research aimed at the development of management tools for improved surface N-fertigation. A complete set of performance indicators for the combined resource management system were identified and defined. Furthermore, we have developed a coupled surface-subsurface water movement and solute transport model for use in fertigation system analysis and design. A one-dimensional zero-inertia model is coupled with a one-dimensional unsaturated zone water flow model (HYDRUS–1D). This coupled surface-subsurface water flow model provides the hydrodynamic basis for the solute transport model. A numerical solution of the area averaged advection-dispersion equation, performed using the split-operator approach, forms the surface solute transport component of the coupled model. The subsurface transport process is simulated using HYDRUS–1D. Field experiments were performed to develop a database for use in the calibration and validation of the coupled model. Comparisons of field data and model output show that the model performs satisfactorily. It is our intention to ultimately use this coupled surface irrigation and solute transport simulation model to develop improved management guidelines for the N-fertigation systems.