Prime Minister John Howard on Thursday announced a multibillion dollar package of water reforms aimed at easing Australia's five-year drought, The Associated Press reported. Already the world's driest inhabited continent, Australia's agricultural sector has been crippled in recent months by the worst drought in the nation's 106-year history. Most Australian cities are facing tight water restrictions, as reservoir levels continue to hit record lows. Under the 10 billion Australian dollar (US$7.8 billion; ¤6 billion) plan, the federal government will seize regulatory control over the Murray-Darling river system, Australia's largest waterway, from the four states that border the rivers. The plan also includes a massive overhaul of Australia's irrigation infrastructure, earmarking nearly A$6 billion (US$4.7 billion; ¤3.61 billion) for the modernization of pipes and channels along the Murray-Darling aimed at saving billions of liters (gallons) of water each year. «The current trajectory of water use and management in Australia is not sustainable,» Howard told the National Press Club in Canberra. «In a protracted drought, and with the prospect of long-term climate change, we need radical and permanent change.»
