Department Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modelling

While crucial to the health and livelihood of billions of people, groundwater is being depleted globally at alarming rates. Groundwater is a shared resource, where pumping by any user decreases groundwater levels and thus the ability of other users to also exploit this resource. This phenomenon can cause users to strategically over-exploit groundwater in a "pumping race" that can accelerate its depletion. Unfortunately, few regulations address this tragedy of the commons because the underground nature of the resource makes it particularly challenging to monitor. This research seeks to estimate the extent to which strategic over-exploitation accelerates global groundwater depletion, and to identify new mechanisms to explain why groundwater is particularly prone to strategic over-exploitation, especially at jurisdictional boundaries.