Geography of groundwater use and depletion in internationally shared aquifers
7 affiliations
- 1Department of Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modeling, Eawag-Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland
- 2United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3P4, Canada
- 3Data Science Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19713
- 4Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19713
- 5Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
- 6Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy
- 7Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556
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.
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BibTeX
@article{muller2026geography,
title = {{Geography of groundwater use and depletion in internationally shared aquifers}},
author = {Marc F. Müller and Kyle F. Davis and Julie Faure and Davide Danilo Chiarelli and Fengwei Hung},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1073/pnas.2619357123},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2619357123},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Geography of groundwater use and depletion in internationally shared aquifers
AU - Marc F. Müller
AU - Kyle F. Davis
AU - Julie Faure
AU - Davide Danilo Chiarelli
AU - Fengwei Hung
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2619357123
UR - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2619357123
AB - 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.
SN - 0027-8424
SN - 1091-6490
ER -