Cooling pond

A cooling pond is a man-made body of water primarily formed for the purpose of cooling heated water or to store and supply cooling water to a nearby power plant or industrial facility such as a petroleum refinery, pulp and paper mill, chemical plant, steel mill or smelter.

Cooling ponds are used where sufficient land is available, as an alternative to cooling towers or discharging of heated water to a nearby river or coastal bay, a process known as “once-through cooling.” The latter process can cause thermal pollution of the receiving waters.

[4][5] Once the water has cooled in the pond, it is reused by the plant.

A 1970 research study published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that cooling ponds have a lower overall electrical cost than cooling towers while providing the same benefits.

The study concluded that a cooling pond will work optimally within 5 degrees Fahrenheit of natural water temperature with an area encompassing approximately 4 acres per megawatt of dissipated thermal energy.