Cargill Salt Bonaire N.V Solar Salt Works

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Utilizing the naturally low-lying geography and traditional Dutch dyke design, much of Bonaire's Southern half has been made into a giant system of ponds and pools which take seawater and allow incremental evaporation of the water until the only remaining product is sea salt. Presently operated by Cargill, Bonaire's solar salt works produces 400,000 tons of industrial grade salt per year primarily using wind to operate windmill-driven pumps and gates and the sun to evaporate the collected seawater.

As the seawater begins to evaporate, the changing salinity levels causes the water to change color from Blue -> Green -> Brown -> Bright Pink before it completely dries and crystallizes. The salt is then washed and put into giant piles before being loaded onto ships for export to North American, European and Western Pacific markets where it is used mostly in industrial & road salt roles.

The large condensing ponds which ring the crystallizer basins, called the Pekelmeer, are a natural habitat for numerous species of brine shrimp which in turn feed flocks of hundreds of Pink Flamingoes and other migratory birds.

www.cargill.com/story/making-salt-in-paradise