JERUSALEM (JTA) — Ben-Gurion University and the University of Chicago have agreed to collaborate on water research projects.

The announcement of the collaboration came Sunday following a meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel along with the two college presidents and leading scientists in the field.

The two schools, which have been working together for the past 18 months, will explore innovative solutions at the water-energy nexus, developing more efficient ways of using water to produce energy and using energy to treat and deliver clean water.

The research, using nano-technology, will make fresh drinking water more plentiful and less expensive by 2020.

Along with their research partner, the Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., the two universities have jointly committed more than $1 million in seed money over the next two years to support at least five inaugural projects, with the first ones being launched this fall.

The universities had signed a memorandum of understanding in Chicago in March.