Climate change likely to blame for dwindling Murray-Darling inflows, report finds

Mick Keelty's review urges governments to stop playing politics with the basin and calls for greater transparency on water sharing

The amount of water in the Murray river system is now only about half of what it was in the preceding century and the frequency of dry years has increased, a much-awaited report has found.

The report by the interim inspector general of the Murray-Darling Basin Water Resource, Mick Keelty, has rejected a widely held view in the southern basin that the current conditions there are "a man made drought" brought on by the policies of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and unfair extractions in the northern basin.