Water scarcity in arid regions is common, and is usually accompanied by drought, desertification, and salinity build up. Water scarcity coupled with poor water quality is a major challenge faced by the farmers of arid areas. Soils in New Mexico are prone to salt accumulation due to inherent limitations such as high rates of evaporation, low regional rainfall, low infiltration rate, saline groundwater, or shallow groundwater. In such cases, sustainable agricultural production is at risk if corrective measures are not introduced.  Large amounts of irrigation water application flush sufficient salts out of the root zone to avoid soil salinization. However, upward movement of water and dissolved salts due to the evaporation gradients brings salts back to the root zone. Since water is a scares resource in arid NM and controlling salinization is a major challenge in the near future, this project was undertaken with the objectives to: (1) continuously record the soil moisture content and soil salinity levels in two onion fields one of which is furrow irrigated while the other is drip irrigated and (2) determine the leaching efficiencies for under these two systems of irrigation. Preliminary investigations show much higher increases in soil salinity levels during the summer months in the furrow than drip irrigated fields. The laboratory and field calibration shows that time domain reflectometry sensors can be used for continuous monitoring of soil moisture and soil salinity levels in the field. The water balance analysis under both irrigation systems is currently underway and will be presented during the conference.