A better, and cheaper, way to do this would be to dig a canal through from the top of St Vincent's Gulf and fill the lakes with sea water. As the evaporative rate would be high a constant flow would go through the canal, and could generate hydro power. Having the lakes constantly full would provide more moisture over the south east, the Mallee and Hay Plains in particular. It would also have an ameliorating effect on the super dry bursts that are such a massive problem in the Victorian fire storm fires.
Whilst this wouldn't supply fresh water directly, it would do so indirectly.
I remember reading a report on this a year or so ago. A plan called the "Bradfield scheme" was suggested to flood the lake and much of the basin in order to create a new area of arable land around the lakes and everything east of it. However, climatologists argued that the drop in temperature around the area would be negligable and that most of the evaportated water (over 90%) would fall over the ocean to the east. Nevertheless, it has frequently been pointed out that when the lakes do fill with water, there is a considerably smaller risk of extreme dought and bush fires in places like Victoria and NSW.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradfield_Scheme
Russell
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