This article demonstrates some of the problems that arise in an economic analysis of the distribution of surface water when a river basin is shared by several countries. A case study is presented on the distribution of surface waters from the Rio Grande, which marks the border between Mexico and the United States, to determine whether there are non-cooperation strategies in relation to the Convention of 1906 for the Equitable Distribution of the Waters of the Rio Grande for Irrigation Purposes. Water flows are analyzed by using a time series for observing cooperative behavior representing a Pareto optimal outcome.