The lagoon is man-made. The water is a byproduct from a nearby geothermal power plant, where superheated water is

extracted from the ground near a lava flow and used to power turbines that generate electricity. After passing

through the turbines, steam and hot water pass through a heat exchanger to provide heat for municipal water heating

systems. The water is then poured into the lagoon.The rich mineral content is provided by underground geological layers and is

pushed to the surface by hot water (at about 1.2 MPa (12 bar) pressure and 240 °C (464 °F) temperature). Due to its mineral concentration,

the water cannot be recycled and must be disposed of in a nearby landscape, a permeable lava field that varies in thickness

from 50 cm(20 in) to 1 m (3.3 ft). After the minerals are deposited, water re-enters the ground, but the deposits make the ground

impenetrable over time, so the plant needs to continually dig new ponds in a nearby lava field.Water is renewed every 2 days.

The average pH is 7.5 and the salt content is 2.5%. Very few organisms live in the water other than a few blue-green algae,

with no fecal bacteria, environmental bacteria, fungi, or plants, even though the water has not been artificially disinfected.