{
  "abstract": "Transboundary aquifers (TBAs) underlie 35% of global groundwater-irrigated cropland, yet few are covered by formal cooperative arrangements. Whether this limited cooperation is consequential depends in part on where groundwater is used within shared aquifers, because pumping far from international borders may generate little cross-border impact. Combining ∼116,000 well observations with global irrigation data across all 426 known TBAs, we assess how groundwater use and depletion differ from comparable domestic systems and how they are distributed relative to international borders. While we find no evidence of greater average depletion in TBAs, depletion is more strongly concentrated toward international borders in shared aquifers and varies substantially across systems. Irrigation is also more intensive and concentrated toward borders in shared aquifers, although much of this pattern is attenuated after accounting for border rivers. Groundwater-supplied irrigation remains more border-proximate after accounting for these rivers. A dyad-level typology distinguishes shared systems according to where groundwater demand is concentrated, linking their potential for cross-border interaction to different management options. These findings suggest that transboundary groundwater governance should be organized around the geography of groundwater use and potential cross-border interactions rather than treating shared aquifers as uniform governance units.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modeling, Eawag-Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland",
    "United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3P4, Canada",
    "Data Science Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19713",
    "Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19713",
    "Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716",
    "Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy",
    "Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Marc F. Müller",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6406-8184"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Kyle F. Davis",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4504-1407"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Julie Faure",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4047-414X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Davide Danilo Chiarelli",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4707-3018"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Fengwei Hung"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mbk5r1ccxq2j.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1073/pnas.2619357123",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13715763/",
  "id": "8mbk5r1ccxq2j",
  "issns": [
    "0027-8424",
    "1091-6490"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2619357123",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "417"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Environmental Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Physical Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Sdg-16-Peace-Justice-and-Strong-Institutions"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Sdg-6-Clean-Water-and-Sanitation"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Social Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3312|Transboundary Water Resource Management"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222917711",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13715763",
  "pmid": "42896060",
  "published": "2026-10-19",
  "publisher": "National Academy of Sciences",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mbk5r1ccxq2j.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:22:58Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13715763",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2619357123"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "heading:Environmental Sciences",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Geography of groundwater use and depletion in internationally shared aquifers",
  "title_text": "Geography of groundwater use and depletion in internationally shared aquifers",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:22:58Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mbk5r1ccxq2j",
  "venue": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
  "versions": []
}