Rainwater could save people in India a bucket of money, according to a new study by scientists looking at NASA satellite data.

The study, partially funded by NASA’s Precipitation Measurement Missions, found that collecting rainwater for vegetable irrigation could reduce water bills, increase caloric intake and even provide a second source of income for people in India.

The study, published in the June issue of Urban Water Journal, is based on precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which provided observations of rainfall over the tropics and subtropics from 1997 to 2015.

“India has severe problems getting potable water to all of its residents,” said Dan Stout, research assistant in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Utah and one of three authors of the study. “We considered collecting water in a relatively small tank, and it’s amazing the effect that doing something that small and simple can have on the Indian people.”

Rainwater harvesting is not a new concept, but the team said it is currently a largely untapped resource in India. Other researchers have studied rainwater harvesting as a potential solution for the country’s water problems, but they mostly focused on its use to replenish groundwater levels, which does not provide any direct benefit for immediate water supply. The water must run off into the ground before being pumped again for use aboveground.

Here, the team examined the possibilities if Indians collected precipitation in cheap 200-gallon tanks that they could easily engineer to fit in densely populated urban areas, such as many of India’s growing cities. The team analyzed satellite data of precipitation in different areas to evaluate the availability of rainwater for direct harvesting—information that would have been nearly impossible to obtain if not for TRMM.

Read the full press release on the NASA website.

Due to global climate change, mismanagement, politics, inadequate technology, rapid population growth, and economic hardships, Pakistan’s water crisis could go from bad to worse.

The Middle Eastern country nestled between Afghanistan and India could become a “water-starved” country in the next six to seven years, according to the country’s minister for water and energy, Khawaja Muhammad Asif. A 2013 report from the Asian Development Bank called Pakistan “one of the most water-stressed countries in the world.”

University of Utah civil and environmental engineers are working to change that.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that the University of Utah has partnered with the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology in Jamshoro, Pakistan, to create a center to research and develop solutions for water problems plaguing Pakistan.

The USAID-funded Partner Center for Advanced Studies in Water will be headquartered at the U with another office in Mehran University. U Civil & Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Steven Burian will become director of the center, which is receiving $10 million in funding over five years. It has not been determined which U building the center will be housed in, but research from the center has already begun.

“This is the most exciting project that I will likely work on in my career, and it’s because of the fact we are representing the university and the United States,” Burian said. “We have so many people involved from across campus, and engineering is the lead. We are doing things where we will see real impact. It’s going to be incredible.”

The center’s research will focus on topics such as treating and reusing wastewater, desalination, storage and irrigation efficiency, flood control, water quality management, public health protection, climate resiliency, water governance, and community-based solutions. But it also will look at how the country’s social, economic and political factors affect the country’s water resources. Michael Barber, chairman of the U’s civil and environmental engineering department, who also will be working at the center, says research they do to aid Pakistan will also benefit the rest of the world.

“There are all sorts of challenges that will direct our research,” he said. “Desalination is a worldwide problem, and we want to help them develop technologies that might be applicable to anywhere. Yes, it will help Pakistan, but yes, it could help Southern California.”

Meanwhile, the center also will have an educational component. A curriculum in water research will be developed, and there will be student exchange programs between both offices, as well as scholarships and community outreach programs.

“That to me is one of the exciting parts, that our students and our faculty will get to learn about cultural challenges and integrate the economics and societal challenges into a project,” Barber said. “We’ve got to think differently, we have to expand our views.”

While the U’s civil and environmental engineering department will lead the operation of the center, it will involve faculty from many disciplines, including researchers in biology, geology, geophysics, law, political science and public health. In all, 17 University of Utah professors will be involved, including four from civil and environmental engineering.

Read the full press release in the U News Center.