Czechia turned a former coal mine into a 309-hectare lake up to 75 metres deep

The flooding started in 2008, and by 2014 the former mine had filled with about 70.5 billion liters of water, forming a lake 309 hectares in area and a maximum of 75 meters deep. Eventually the lake was opened for public recreation.What does it take to give a landscape carved by decades of coal mining back to nature? The answer in Czechia, however, is becoming more complicated. The huge open-cast lignite mines in the Ústí Region were to be turned into artificial lakes after mining was completed. But as climate change brings less water and more evaporation, officials are reconsidering whether filling every giant mining pit with water is practical, or even sustainable. Now the debate is impacting the future of four major mines: ČSA, Nástup–Tušimice, Bílina and Vršany, states a 2023 news repo