The CWRDM is one among the Water and Land Management Institutes (WALMIs) started in 1990 by the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India under the WRMTP, funded by USAID. Around 3000 government officials and thousands of farmers were trained in the Centre. Training on watershed management was also conducted at CWRDM for the Panchayats of northern Kerala. Several national level training programs on irrigation management, watershed development, and wetland management were conducted in CWRDM, in addition to providing training and research opportunities for students and research scholars. The Centre had academic and research linkages with Universities of Srathyclyde, Birmingham, Koyota, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UK), Hydraulic Research Station (UK), Danish Institute, etc; in addition, it had common programmes with IITs, NITs and Universities in India.

The Centre was amalgamated with the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment in its Silver Jubilee Year-2003.