As the mill tailings were slurried to the disposal area, forming the pile, water in the tailings naturally accumulated within the pile. To dewater (remove the water from) the mill tailings, the former site trustee installed a system of 17,000 "wicks" (vertical band drains) in the pile prior to DOE site ownership. The vertical band drains provide a pathway for water to more quickly travel out of the pile. Overburden material was added to the top of the pile to provide additional weighting, which helps "squeeze" some of the water up to the top of the pile through the vertical band drains. A lined evaporation pond located on top of the tailings pile collects the water.

DOE continues to dewater the Moab site tailings pile. As of June 30, 2008, approximately 1,269,000 gallons of water (pore fluids) has been collected and evaporated from the pond. Dewatering the pile will reduce the amount of wet material that has to be handled during relocation of the pile to the Crescent Junction site for permanent disposal. Dewatering also reduces the amount of contamination from the pile that can leach into the ground water or to the Colorado River. The effectiveness of the dewatering system is decreasing as excess pressure from the additional soils of the overburden material is dissipated.