 The Great Barrier Reef is precious, a unique national icon and important to the whole world. But it's in trouble, having lost half its coral cover since 1985. Climate change is the biggest long-term threat. Improving water quality now will help the reef bounce back. Farms are the main source of pollutants. Other land uses, like ports, industry, mining and urban development can also have locally significant impacts. Sediment runoff makes the water cloudy and prevents seagrass and coral getting the sunlight they need to thrive. Nutrient runoff from Fertiliser is linked to outbreaks of coral-eating crown of thorn starfish. The Water Science Task Force has recommended ways to reduce the runoff of sediment and nutrients and priorities for investing an additional $90 million in Queensland Government funding over four years. There have been big efforts over the last decade to reduce runoff, but progress has not been fast enough. We need new technology, innovative practices and land use change to meet the water quality targets. Some ideas have worked, but others have been too complex, fragmented and have been poorly communicated. As part of the Task Force's interim report, we've come up with some solutions. We know that there is no one silver bullet to improve water quality. A range of tools will be required. We need to provide more financial support and incentives to our farmers. We need to provide better education and extension support to farmers. Everyone needs to be part of the solution and we need to more clearly communicate that. Science should be better aligned and funding should be provided for innovative solutions. More reef-wide and local-scale monitoring, modelling and reporting is needed. Better outcomes-based regulations like water quality permits should be introduced, staged over time. We have suggested running two large-scale demonstrator projects, one in the wet tropics and one in the vertical to test the effectiveness of a mix of tools. And we've also suggested some funding priorities. These are our thoughts on what we can do to improve water quality. Tell us what you think. Share your thoughts at gbr.qld.gov.au by the 22nd of February 2016.