Innovative projects targeting water research from the coast to the treatment plant have picked up Australian Research Council grants.

Griffith School of Environment researchers Richard John, Peter Teasdale, PhD graduate Kylie Catterall, and Dave Welsh (pictured left to right) secured a $150,000 ARC Linkage boost toward a joint Gold Coast Water project to establish an 'early warning system' to rapidly detect wastewater treatment problems.

Associate Professor John said the ability to pinpoint problems was critical, particularly with the use of treated water, to take pressure off dwindling drinking water supplies.

This system takes a 'seed' bacteria sample from a treatment plant, and adds a dissolved iron compound that has the effect of increasing the bacteria's rate of respiration enormously. Toxins inhibit the respiration and nutrients cause it to increase dramatically. Either response can be measured with the developed system.

Researcher Dr Peter Teasdale said the system would position Australia as a leader in monitoring water treatment processes.

"Our early warning system will enable the presence of toxic wastewater or an overload of nutrients to be identified quickly.

"Current tests can take up to five days to measure nutrient levels. Our system will cut this down to a couple of hours."

School of Engineering researcher Dr Nick Cartwright also secured funding to investigate the threat of climate change driven storm surges.