Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 19 October 2026 · From issue 54
Geography of groundwater use and depletion in internationally shared aquifers
Water pumping near borders in shared underground water layers can affect neighboring countries more than expected.
Marc F. Müller, Kyle F. Davis et al.
Underground water stored in layers that cross country borders feeds over a third of the world's farmland that uses groundwater for irrigation. Few countries have formal deals to share and manage this water together. A new analysis of about 116,000 wells across 426 shared water layers found that water pumping and water loss are not worse on average than in water layers inside just one country. But both tend to pile up near borders, meaning one country's water use is more likely to affect its neighbor there.
The share of groundwater-fed farmland that sits above water layers shared by more than one country.
Global well data only, no direct measure of cross-border harm.
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