The persistent depletion of groundwater reserves represents a critical environmental challenge for arid and semiarid regions. This study examines groundwater governance processes through an integrated framework that utilized the Network of Action Situations (NAS) and Social Network Analysis (SNA). The analysis focuses on the Borkhar aquifer in Iran, one of the country's most severely depleted groundwater systems. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and a review of official documents. The first phase mapped the institutional architecture by identifying and categorizing eight key action situations across the tiers of rule-making, planning, and implementation. Findings reveal a strongly centralized governance regime dominated by national-level authorities, characterized by limited decentralization, hierarchical imbalance, and the absence of effective coordinating bodies. Vertical coordination is largely top-down, with weak or non-existent linkages between national institutions and local actors. In the second phase, a governance network integrating action situations, institutions, operational measures, and ecosystem services was analyzed using centrality metrics including degree, betweenness, and closeness. Groundwater allocation is identified as the network's core node, heavily shaped by national development strategies and energy subsidy policies. Ecosystem services are treated as incidental outcomes rather than intentional policy drivers, leaving critical issues, such as the desiccation of the Zayandeh-Rud River and land subsidence, unaddressed. The results demonstrate that integrating institutional and network-based approaches can expose governance bottlenecks, uncover hidden institutional dynamics, and inform the design of inclusive, multi-level governance mechanisms for sustainable groundwater management.