Sephton Water Technology Inc., of Kensington, California has been awarded a $150,000 cooperative agreement by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation for the implementation of Salton Seawater Vertical Tube Evaporation and Brine Management Project.

The proposed Project will pilot test the extraction of marketable salts from Salton Sea water before delivering the remaining salts to the salinity gradient Solar pond or other productive uses.

The Bureau of Reclamation provided the following overview: "New regional priorities supporting geothermal development and environmental mitigation and restoration at the Salton Sea led by local agencies have created new opportunities and challenges that make this Project particularly relevant and useful.

With the aim to verify and improve on processes developed under a similarly funded project, the pilot project plans to use distilled Salton Sea water to sustain marine habitat and Salton Sea brine to create a salinity gradient Solar pond. These products would be produced by the VTE Pilot Plant already installed and by the VTE Demonstration Plant near completion.

If successful, this has the potential to make a geothermal distillation, marine habitat, and Solar pond system that is self-sustaining in water and salt management and also financially self-sustaining.