Knowledgebase
Welcome to the BTL Knowledgebase. Ever since we started lining ponds, creating covers, and helping people with their projects, we've gotten asked a lot of questions. Many of these questions are repeatedly asked, so we put together the BTL knowledgebase to help answer any questions you had about a particular subject. We are adding new questions every month, so continue to check back often!
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Can brine be dangerous?
There’s a reason why brine ponds are so popular as a containment method!
What methods can be used to speed evaporation in brine evaporation ponds?
Scalable, efficient and economically viable solar evaporation ponds are weather dependent, and location may have more to do with the evaporation rate than any other variable.
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Do evaporation ponds have potential harmful effects on air quality or global warming?
Improperly designed evaporation sprayers, when used in conjunction with a pond, can produce small droplets that contain toxic particles that are too light to fall into the pond and might potentially float, polluting the air for great distances around any specific site.
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Is the water in evaporation ponds toxic until it completely evaporates?
Some environmentalists contend that open evaporation ponds pose an unidentified health and safety risk to human populations and have an as-yet-unknown effect on climate change.
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How does the oil and gas industry use evaporation ponds?
Evaporation ponds are an integral part of most oil and gas industry sites today because they offer an affordable solution for the need to process and control both the production water required to flush oil and gas out of underground reserves and the flowback water that is generated from such extraction.
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Are evaporation ponds monitored for potential hazardous leaks or seepage?
Almost without exception today, there are monitoring controls in place at all commercial operations within the United States, and in most other industrialized nations, to detect seepage, leaks or malfunction of evaporation ponds.
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Once the water evaporates, how is what's left removed from an evaporation pond?
It may seem quite elementary, but the actual removal of waste material from an evaporation pond is a relatively simple procedure.
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Do desalination plants require evaporation ponds?
A looming global crisis exists with a critical need for a clean water supply for household use in many of the world’s population centers; with the majority of the earth’s surface devoted to seawater, it is only natural that desalination efforts extend far inland.
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Can the evaporation rate of an evaporation pond be monitored and/or controlled?
Professional assessments are used to judge the relative merits of any planned evaporation pond prior to installation, especially brine ponds that typically focus on promoting fast evaporation to enable the mining of desirable salts and minerals as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
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Can evaporation ponds remove toxic chemicals?
While it is not strictly factual to state that evaporation ponds really remove toxic chemicals from liquid as the water evaporates, it is correct to say a waste pond or holding pond contributes to the decomposition of toxic waste and permit it to be transported to a safe storage or disposal location.
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What is the best subsurface preparation for an evaporation pond?
All constructed ponds, no matter whether they are stocked with fish or used as evaporation ponds, must comply with pertinent regulations and jurisdictional zoning and inspection requirements.
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How are evaporation ponds used by the mining industry?
Mining operations of all types have used water throughout history both for separating valuable ores from surrounding rock – harvesting – and for holding and containing the wastewater that is generated by the mining process.
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What are the bright blue ponds in Utah that can be seen from space?
Those massive, electric-blue ponds are actually the evaporation ponds of a Potash mining operation that are indeed visible and have been photographed from earth orbit.
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Do modern landfills use evaporation ponds?
In general, the only available options are either an evaporation pond or a recirculation pond.
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If an evaporation pond has served its purpose, can the land be reclaimed?
If an impenetrable liner is used, there is no reason why existing land cannot be reclaimed for other purposes when an evaporation pond is no longer being use for its original purpose.
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What are some disadvantages of evaporation ponds?
Evaporation ponds used for agricultural purposes can resemble wetlands that are the natural habitat of waterfowl and migratory birds, and there are some inherent risks due to high concentrations of salts and trace elements in the drainage runoff.
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How does a brine pond differ from a conventional evaporation pond?
A brine pond is typically designed to facilitate the harvest of salts or other crystaline minerals that are left when the water evaporates, while a conventional or standard pond is simply designed to hold water and collect any residue that must be kept out of local waterways, groundwater or surrounding soil.
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What is the best type of liner for an evaporation pond?
Modern multi-layer pond liners utilizing pliable forming material are highly effective evaporation pond liners.
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Can fish, waterfowl and plants live in an evaporation pond?
The truth is that waterfowl, migrating birds and other wildlife are attracted to any large, open expanse of water, including evaporation ponds.
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Are evaporation ponds environmentally friendly?
While properly constructed evaporation ponds are designed to protect the environment, ponds that are not properly designed, lined or installed can leak into surrounding soil and cause damage, either to the soil or to nearby lakes, rivers and streams or underground aquifers.
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Are there specific design requirements for Wastewater Treatment Ponds?
The United States Environmental Protection Agency offers engineers and plant managers a comprehensive design and operations manual for pond systems at municipal wastewater treatment facilities.
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When were evaporation ponds first used?
The first known use of evaporation ponds was to extract salt from seawater, and the methods have changed little throughout history. The Phoenicians, Romans and Chinese obtained salt in this way.
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Does climate affect the function of evaporation ponds?
The simple answer is that climate is perhaps the primary determinant of the viability of evaporation ponds for any specific use.
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What industries use evaporation ponds. And why?
The primary industrial users of evaporation ponds include solar power plants, other power plants, agriculture and food processing operations, oil and gas industries, concrete producers, chemical processing plants, and landfill and composting users.
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