Grand County Engineer Mark Wright recently sought to allay fears regarding concerns raised by some about the evaporation pond liners at the Danish Flats produced water disposal facility. Wright assured Grand County Council members at a meeting earlier this month that the pond liners do not leak and he explained that moisture observed by a Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining inspector is “condensed moisture” left over from the construction process when a fabric liner was placed over a clay liner.

“We’re talking about a fraction of an inch” of condensate in the leak detection system, Wright told council members. “There have been no detected leaks,” He said the he expects an analysis of the moisture taken from the leak detection system at the facility will show that the moisture was condensation.

Regarding a recent violation at the facility stemming from an enhanced evaporation experiment, Wright thanked local resident Pam Hackley for reporting a cloud of vapor that she saw blowing past the facility boundary. Wright said he was on vacation at the time and when he returned, an experimental evaporation system that facility owners say caused the vapor had been dismantled so there was no need for him to issue a cease and desist order.

Noting that other experimental enhancement systems developed by the facility in conjunction with Utah State University are likely to be tested, Wright said the tests must be approved by him and proper control systems to prevent mist from leaving the facility must be in place.