Spray pond

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A spray pond is a reservoir in which warmed water (e.g. from a power plant) is cooled before reuse by spraying the warm water with nozzles into the cooler air. Cooling takes place by exchange of heat with the ambient air, involving both conductive heat transfer between the water droplets and the surrounding air and evaporative cooling (which provides by far the greatest portion, typically 85 to 90%, of the total cooling). The primary purpose of spray pond design is thus to ensure an adequate degree of contact between the hot injection water and the ambient air, so as to facilitate the process of heat transfer.

The spray pond is the predecessor to the natural draft cooling tower, which is much more efficient and takes up less space but has a much higher construction cost. A spray pond requires between 25 and 50 times the area of a cooling tower. However, some spray ponds are still in use today.