Fixing the water quality around the Great Barrier Reef will cost $8.2 Billion over the next decade, according to Queensland's Environment Minister Steven Miles.  That's way more than the $1 Billion set aside by the Federal Government to tackle the problem.

The Government's Reef 2050 plan seeks to reduce the amount of runoff and nutrients from mining, agriculture, and urban areas that pollute the waters around the reef.  Doing so would give the coral a better chance of recovering from this year's record bleaching; and it would the United Nations' world heritage agency UNESCO's target to keep it from removing the reef from the world heritage danger list.

The Queensland government says cutting the amount of sediment from the Fitroy basin in half will take up $6.5 Billion of the $8.2 Billion figure.  The government plan points to five more basins contributing to the pollution problem. 

Farms in these areas employee about 35,000 people and contribute $3.7 Billion to the economy.  But industries relying on the Great Barrier Reef employ twice than number of people and contribute about $6 Billion to the economy each year.