The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant has begun shipping salt water off site in an effort to relieve the Water Recovery System of a high salt concentration that could potentially damage its tanks.

“We’re moving out the inventory of brine to dilute the system,” Kim Jackson, plant manager, PCAPP, told the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens’ Advisory Commission at its regular meeting Feb. 26 in Pueblo. “This is the first time we’ve shipped brine.”

Shipping the approximately 250,000 gallons of brine will take place over a two-week period using four trucks per day containing 4,000-4,500 gallons per truck. They will make their way to Veolia’s permitted hazardous waste facility in Port Arthur, Texas.

According to Jackson, a high concentration of salt is resulting in degraded system performance. However, she said crews working at the plant know how to solve problems.

“We have some work to do, as we are fully invested in getting this plant healthy,” she said. “We’re going to solve this just as we’ve solved all other problems in the plant. We’re not shutting down the Biotreatment Area. We’re continuing to run it. That’s our commitment to the CAC. We just have to work on some design improvements. We have to have a good reliable system and that is our objective.”