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Macroscien said..Ian K said..
Well don't be surprised if the sums work
There is now new ally that could help us to collect , store water inland.Energy.We obviously need to store energy produced in wind farms and solar farms. Since battery storage is far away to be economical at the scale requires we could go back to old proven technology. Pumping water storage. Recent study shown that topography of the country like USA or Australia allow to theoretically create such artificial storage at the amount the 100x exceed our actual energy production.!!!By investing in artificial water storage inland Australia we kill four kanguru with one stone/ resolve the problem: 1) prevent the flooding 2) minimize bushfires 3) contribute to new argi food production : fish farmings 4) give the jobs to people inland
energy.anu.edu.au/research/highlights/anu-finds-22000-potential-pumped-hydro-sites-australia 
At this moment in history we employ thousand of people , spend millions to fight bushfires and then restore lost property.
One day people could find everyday employment ( without that need for urgency or risk ) at national scale building works inland to build not only new solar farms but also water works projects. Those thousand of people could replace their firefighting trucks with buldozeds and diggers to do everyday work more enjoyable and predictive.
Families of the farmers inland complain about lack of employment , work opportunities beside their not so much effective farming .
As the ANU says, that "22000 sites" map ignores many of the critical practical aspects like geology, commercial practicality, hydrology and other critical aspects. It is also an assessment for a completely different purpose.
I am looking at six of those "potential" sites out of my window as I sit here. The nearest one, two doors down, would need a dam wall of up to about 20m high from what I can see. That is a 5 gig storage. A nearby proposal involving far less construction is estimated at $40 to $60 mill. That dam would still be far too small for a scooper.
And spending all that cash on that spot would do nothing, because the same property has a waterhole that has already been assessed, and trialled, by the RFS. If it's not suitable for choppers then they can come up to my place, 600 metres away, which has already been assessed by the RFS as being suitable for choppers. That's because the RFS are not a bunch of morons who you can out-think on a lazy Sunday as you seem to think, but a knowledgeable bunch of smart guys who have spent years learning their stuff.
But you are ignoring the point that the pumped hydro map is irrelevant. We DO have dams - there are dams in the areas where pumped hydro is feasible. What we don't have is enough water. Your idea of long skinny trenches is impractical in many different ways.
Oh, and your earlier post where you said how easy it was to fix the rivers...... I've just spent part of my morning down along my creek talking with Water NSW staff about our battle with anabaena circularis. If it's so easy, I invite you to come up here now and show us all how it's done.
The reason the anabaena is running riot is because the creeks stopped running months ago. We can't release any water from the dam to flush the creek, because the dam is dry and full of hard-caked dirt. It's no use having storage if there is nothing to put in it. We can't just chuck more water in dams because that has other environmental side effects. Go tell the people downstream of the Snowy Mountains Scheme or Cubby Station that there's no problem in putting more water in dams.
I'm not sure of farmers complaining about lack of employment; as one guy put it in the irrigation shop on Sunday, the problem is that the fires will come before the rain does. But hey, their only problem is that they are morons and you are a god who knows everything.