KITS identified four thrust areas of societal importance in 2008, namely water, food, healthcare and sustainable energy. The Water Institute (WI) was established in 2008 as a flagship programme to encourage interdisciplinary research aiming at scientific water management, and ensuring water security, especially in semi-arid zones. WI was established keeping in view MDGs; since 2016, the focus shifted to SDGs. The Dublin Conference-1992, Rio Conference-1992 and Johannesburg Conference-2012, and the initiatives of GoI, namely the National Drinking Water Mission and WAR for Water prompted by the Supreme Court of India motivated KITS to focus more on water. The relevance of research in WI gained significance with more areas coming under water stress or water scarcity in India. The WI succeeded in bringing together the faculty and students of different Departments-arts, science, agriculture, engineering and management for interdisciplinary research and to address multifarious water related issues. As a result, several projects, papers, products, consultancy, capacity building and extension activities emerged.