Two major organizations on water resources are headquartered in SIUC's Geography Department.

The International Water Resources Association aims to help nations protect and make better use of water resources by providing information to scientists and policymakers. IWRA, created in 1972 and based at SIUC since 1998, has 1,400 members in 110 countries. Ben Dziegielewski (see main story) serves as IWRA's executive director; Bruce Hooper, a new associate professor of geography at SIUC, serves as executive editor of its quarterly journal, Water International.

The Universities Council on Water Resources, a consortium of more than 90 universities interested in research, education, and public service related to water, was founded in 1964 and has been administered by SIUC since the mid-1980s. Its executive director is Christopher Lant, chair of the Geography Department. The council administers UWIN, the Universities Water Information Network, an online clearinghouse of data on water resources.