At the international scale, the statistically significant predictors of conflict over water resources focus on the institutional capacity within a river basin. To assess the potential vulnerabilities of transboundary groundwater systems, this paper examines the extent that bilateral and multilateral water treaties and river basin organizations have made provisions for groundwater in basin agreements. While 240 transboundary aquifers have been identified by international scholars in groundwater resources, only 98 are considered representative of the major transboundary groundwater systems. Reasons for the small number of major transboundary aquifers include (1) the limited geographic extent of the transboundary aquifers, (2) the ongoing efforts to develop conceptual models of some groundwater systems, as well as (3) the ongoing efforts to categorize the type of aquifers by WHYMAP. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the transboundary aquifers with the over 400 basin accords, this study found that approximately 15% of the 240 transboundary aquifers fall within the bounds of a river basin treaty with provisions for groundwater.

Groundwater resource administration within River Basin Organizations (RBOs) is weak, even within the most robust international RBOs. None of the transboundary aquifer systems located along coastal regions are addressed in the survey of river basin treaties. The vast fresh groundwater resources stored under the ocean floor are also not addressed. Of the few river basin treaties that have provisions for groundwater, none address the spatial and vertical boundaries of the groundwater system. And none refer to the utilization of non-renewable groundwater.