Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT TOM KIRK, SALTON SEA AUTHORITY, 
(760)-564-4888
OR MIKE WALKER, BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, 
(520)-343-8243 

Jan. 29, 2001

The Bureau of Reclamation and the Salton Sea Authority will be holding a pilot demonstration of an Enhanced Evaporation System 2 p.m. Thursday at the former Salton Sea Navy Test Base on the Southwest shore of the Salton Sea.

The salinity extraction system is one of two pilot projects presently underway to develop a means to stabilize salinity of the Salton Sea.

Enhanced Evaporation Systems consist of mechanical equipment that create and disperse a fine mist of water into the atmosphere.  Once airborne, droplets of water evaporate while the salt falls into a containment area. The microscopic droplets greatly increase the surface area of water exposed to the air, thus enhancing evaporation rates.

The system is being constructed at the former Navy test base, which has been turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The Bureau, in conjunction with the Salton Sea Science Office, began conducting and monitoring a 700-hour test of the equipment this month. It is anticipated that a longer test phase of more than six months will follow.

For traffic coming from the south, the turnoff to the test site is located about five miles north of the border check point on Highway 86 in Imperial County. For traffic from the north, the road to the site is located five miles south of the landfill/airport turnoff in Salton City.

The design phase for the second pilot desalinization project, a series of solar evaporation ponds, is nearly complete. The ponds will be constructed on Imperial Irrigation District and county-owned property at the former Niland boat launch site on the northeast side of the lake.

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