Any link to read about this 0.5 - 30 inch/hr conversion? Cultivated soil or already wetted soil will absorb much more readily than not, was this a carefully controlled experiment? Anyway it would take some serious modelling not handwavy yes or no as to whether permaculture/regenerative techniques (and a well defined definition of success of mitigation) could work. I absolutely admit that it could help on the margins, but would it have really have changed the image featured in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32692060 ? Is the supposition that this water would find its way to some aquifer?