Press Release

March 3, 2000

LA QUINTA--The Salton Sea Authority, in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Thursday completed 20 hours of tests over a five-day period to equipment that is under consideration to reduce the salinity of California's largest inland lake.

The pilot test provided a preliminary evaluation of one of the ground-based enhanced evaporation systems being considered to reduce and stabilize the salinity of the Salton Sea.

"This is the first time in 40 years we have seen an actual demonstration at the Salton Sea of technology to address the salinity problems of the sea," said Tom Kirk, executive director of the Salton Sea Authority.

Another kind of enhanced evaporation system being considered--a tower system--is currently operating at the Impala Mineral Refinery in South Africa. Staff members from the Authority and Department of Interior will be undertaking an on-site examination of the tower system before considering it for testing at Salton Sea.

The technology demonstrated in this week's tests, which occurred at the former Navy base south of Salton City, was a Turbo Mist Evaporator. The off-the-shelf equipment, which works very much like an agricultural sprayer, was manufactured and operated by Slimline Manufacturing of Penticton, British Columbia.

Turbo mist evaporators are currently being used around the world in numerous mining reclamation projects.

The Turbo Mist system pumps water from the Salton Sea, pressurizes it and sprays it into the air. The process speeds evaporation and would allow salts to be separated into holding ponds.

During this week's tests, the mist was sprayed back over the Sea and brine solutions were captured for evaluation. The purpose was to determine evaporation rates over a range of temperature, humidity and wind conditions.

According to Harry Remmers, team leader for the Water Treatment Engineering and Research Group at the Bureau of Reclamation, engineers were able to look at a number of different nozzle configurations on the equipment.

"We were overall pleased with the performance of the Turbo-Mist Evaporator," he said. "It shows potential for significant evaporation and could be useful in achieving our goals of reducing salinity at the sea."

An evaluation report will be made March 16 to the Salton Sea Authority's Board of Directors.

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