Current requirements, including a Waste Discharge Requirements Order, prescribe the removal of all brine pond sediment. No active processes or experiments involving Department of Energy research are currently operating or planned at the Geothermal Test Facility. Sources of contamination are related to past operations at the site. Untreated brine extracted during geothermal exploration and brine blowdown water were stored in a holding pond at the facility. Storage of brine in the holding pond resulted in contamination of sediments with soluble salts and arsenic.
Current estimates assume that no contamination is present beneath the brine pond liner.
See the Site Map for the location of contamination. In 1989, the Colorado River Basin Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a Waste Discharge Requirements Order. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requirements under Subtitle C are not applicable to the brine pond because it does not contain any hazardous waste. Therefore, the Regional Water Quality Control Board is the lead agency for the cleanup effort. Coordination will be required with the Bureau of Land Management because the Department uses the site under a Right of Way agreement.