Freshwater Initiative

Global Water Center

In 2009 local visionaries and business leaders from Milwaukee’s numerous water-based industries collaborated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Great Lakes Water Institute to establish the Water Council. Through the work of the Water Council, both locally and globally, Milwaukee is fast becoming the hub for water science and water industry conferences.

To learn more about hosting your event in Milwaukee, please contact Laura Lutter Cole at [email protected] or (414) 287-6220.

Contact Laura Explore Venues

Opened in 2013 and home to the Water Council, the Global Water Center is a stunning rehabilitation of a former industrial building in downtown’s Walker’s Point neighborhood, featuring water-related research facilities and accelerator space for emerging water-related companies. The building’s renovation also serves as a catalyst for the development of the Reed Street Yards, a mixed-use, urban office, educational research and technology zone focused on the international water industry.

Combine fresh water assets with the Wisconsin Center’s 300,000 square feet of function space, connected by skywalk to three convention hotels, and some of the lowest airfares in the nation, and this “Fresh Coast” location is just the right destination for memorable meetings of all sizes.

Bring your meeting to Milwaukee and be part of this exciting freshwater movement!

Milwaukee's Ripple Effect

Designation as a U.N. Global Compact City in 2009 as an international hub of water research and technology and one of only three cities in the U.S to earn this prestigious recognition.
Home to a water cluster of more than 200 companies, including such giants as Badger Meter, MillerCoors, and A.O. Smith.
Home to the nation's first School of Freshwater Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which recently opened a $53 million expansion.
Newly lauched Water Law and Policy Initiative at Marquette University Law School.