In response to the deployment of the State Council on accelerating the reform and development of water conservancy, and to promote China’s transformation from a manufacturing country to a creative country, a cultivation mode of innovative water conservancy graduate students in regional universities under the context of double first-class construction is explored based on the cultivation practice of water conservancy graduate students in regional universities. Problems encountered in the cultivating of water conservancy graduate students in regional universities are investigated. Then, based on the problems orientated and taking training top-notch talents and improving the level of scientific research under the context of double first-class construction as the goal, reform approaches for cultivating innovative water conservancy graduate students in regional universities are proposed. A cultivation mode based on four-self education is developed, namely self-education, self-cultivation, self-innovation and self-management. Finally, the achievements in the practice of these reform approaches for cultivating water conservancy graduate students in Nanchang University are introduced, to provide references for cultivating graduate students in other regional universities.