"Blackadder XXIV" wrote in message

Staring at a map of Australia, you can see that we've got a system of
rivers- there should be someway we can tap into them - creating canals,
reservoirs and aquaduct systems (underground) to pipe water from areas
which flood to areas which are dry.

What's the cost? One billion dollars? Ten billions dollars? Probably more.
Will it be done in ten years time, twenty? forty years perhaps? I think
its feasibily - anything is better than seeing parts of our nation flood,
farming communities dry out, and just swatting the flies off our faces.

If you are looking at a topographical map, you will notice that Australia is
virtually flat and that means that most rivers are shallow and that the
rivers that have water in quantity, have it for only a relatively short
period of time and event hen it spreads out on the floodplain.

Canals have worked over relatively short distances in other countries with a
much higher population density but in our conditions they would suffer
evaporation badly. Reservoirs work best where there are steep ravines
through which a river passes and this has largely already been done where it
can be. In order for pipelines to be effective you would need permanent
access to large quantities of water to make building them effective and
where woudl that be?

Dorathea Mackellar was right. "Droughts and flooding rains" That has
always been our pattern and that is also why Aus has the topographical
profile it does now. We live in a truly ancient continent and I strongly
suspect that peak oil and the lack of progress on solar energy means we will
not be faced with any solutions in the short term (by which I mean anything
up to 50 years from now).