Brine ponds differ from conventional ponds or other types of evaporation ponds in many key ways—and that means special precautions must be taken when creating and maintaining a brine pond. A conventional brine pond exists only to collect residues that need to be kept out of local waterways, aquifers or surrounding soil. Evaporation rates aren’t as important, and typically the contents of a conventional evaporation pond aren’t as corrosive and toxic as the brine stored in a brine pond. That’s the first main precaution that should be taken with a brine pond: The materials used in construction must be highly resistant to corrosion so that they stand up under long term use, even where heavily concentrated brines are being held. After evaporation, mechanical equipment is used to harvest the salts left behind—and that means brine ponds must have an extra stable foundation to prevent machinery from sinking through and damaging the liner. It also needs to be tough enough to stand up to equipment scraping salt from the surface.
The prevention of leaks is absolutely critical because leaks can not only contaminate the surrounding environment, but they can also contribute to the loss of the product being harvested. In some brine ponds, leak prevention means pouring concrete on top of the pond liner so that mechanical harvesting equipment doesn’t damage the liner. Underground leak detection equipment may also be used to signal leaks.
