I have always thought this should be done, that small steps, put in place over 100,s of years, will build our country, even been searching for other ways to retrieve water, see others over the years have tried to find a way, Hasbeen has told of small amounts that could, if put in place, build some inland dams, remember the dams would be take off points for pumping water to the next dam further inland,any water saved/reused would benefit

imagine the scream that would go up if you start taking water from coastal irrigators
Hasbeen,
Well, tit for tat, stop supplies of farm produce. Seriously, no directly potable water would need to be taken, run-off could be redirected into collection pits then pumped beyond the Great Dividing range where it'd filter into the Aquifers.
The Nr1 priority would be to get water beyond the great Dividing range thence via a series of pits or small dams progressively farther west. Evaporation would very likely help precipitation & the ground would gradually become saturated in places which in turn would then become non-engineered waterways. The very first wet season in the tropics upon beginning construction would saturate the presently dry river beds & once continued flow is happening more rain will occur.
It really is not as technical as some hand-rubbing consultants want to make it, just common sense is all that's needed & long-term patience.

Surely you are not fair dinkum? saying this in any way would take water from coastal irrigation? for a start sewage is not yet used that way in other than minor use in very few places, stormwater drains end up in the sea and most river water ends there too,right now wet season water in the NT is wasted, just think if flood pumps in place to pump high volumes of water when a river is in flood sent it inland

I caught the bus from Mildura to Swan Hill this morning and am now on the train south to Melbourne. So some observations from the front line. First, not much rain for the last 8 months, but the Murray has water. The biggest contrast is between small areas of irrigated pasture, chock full of sheep or cattle, presumably on abutment, and bare ground with just a bit of grass stubble everywhere else, where they are handfeeding. Hay bales in every paddock.

Cont. There is some irrigated cropping, which seems to be a lot of hay, because of the hundreds of hay bales stacked near the road presumably waiting transport. Otherwise there are many bare paddocks which have clearly been cropped in the past, but not this year. Most striking are old abandoned irrigation channels, supporting in their beds red gum saplings. Their size dates this to Mill. Drought.

The short posts are due to the ads blocking the space for writing and menu tabs on the mobile phone screen. Any solution to this?