2023-05-06 07:31:39
SIf you look down at Lake Sedlitz on some days, the water is said to appear blue like in the Caribbean. That’s what people say from here. On this summer’s day, however, it takes a lot of imagination. The sky is overcast, the water grey-blue, the sun is having a hard time. The lake exudes more East German seclusion than a Caribbean beach feeling. You’re not allowed to swim in it anyway.
Like so many other lakes in the Lusatian Lake District on the border of Brandenburg and Saxony, Lake Sedlitz was an open-cast mine and is now being flooded. The process is not yet complete. One of the visible traces of the mining past is the brown-red cloudiness in the water and on the gray stones at the edge of the bank due to iron ocher.
The brown-red trail is clearly visible from the viewing platform on the shore, 30 meters high and built in the middle of nowhere at the end of a small forest road on the connecting canal to Geierswalder See. The steel observation tower also looks corroded and bears the appropriate name: Rusty Nail.
Of course, it’s not really rusty: The “Rusty Nail” lookout tower on Lake Sedlitz is made of Corten steel and is only covered with a rusty red patina
Which: pa/Andreas Franke
The water in Lake Sedlitz is still quite acidic, also a result of intensive mining. The still low pH value is bad for plants and fish and also questionable for bathing. That is why the lime ship drives here to neutralize the water.
Visible traces of the mining past: Iron ocher covers the stones on the shore of Lake Sedlitz
Source: dpa-tmn
The flooding of Lake Sedlitz is expected to be completed by 2025. It will then be the largest artificial lake in the lake country. There is a bathing beach, even if you are not allowed in the water. But at least: Sunbathing is already possible.
Lake Senftenberg is an example of change
What it might look like here can be seen just a few kilometers to the south-west at Lake Senftenberg. It is a blueprint for the transformation from a mining to a recreational area and the starting point of the vision for the Lusatian Lake District.
In 1967 the flooding of the former Niemtsch opencast mine began, and the resulting lake has been open to tourism since 1973. That was 50 years ago this year and there will be a big celebration.
Formerly an opencast mine, now a beach: Holidaymakers have been able to swim at Lake Senftenberg for 50 years
Which: pa/Andreas Franke
The Senftenberger See offers everything that attracts holidaymakers to the water: sandy beach, a large holiday park with a campsite and more than 200 holiday homes, activities in the area. The water has a very good bathing quality, and it is not without pride that people refer to the “Blue Flag” seal on the beach of Grosskoschen on the south side of the lake.
Holidaymakers can also spend the night in these tree houses in the harbor camp on Lake Senftenberg
Source: dpa-tmn
The town of Senftenberg on the north bank has not only hotels on the lake, but also a modern marina, just ten years old. It also celebrates its anniversary in 2023. Active people bring their bikes with them on holiday around Lake Senftenberg. 1,900 kilometers of cycle paths meander through the entire region, all paved, as the tourism association emphasizes. A lake country route leads to 16 lakes over a distance of around 200 kilometres.
The garden city of Marga was created at the drawing board
You can also follow the traces of mining away from the water. For example in Brieske, a district of Senftenberg. When a lignite seam was developed here shortly after 1900, the responsible mining company built a settlement for its workers with the garden city of Marga, which was planned on the drawing board.
The apartments were comparatively bright and large by the standards of the time. The houses had gardens at the front (for ornament) and at the back (for growing fruit and vegetables and for keeping livestock).
Designed on the drawing board: the garden city of Marga in Brieske near Senftenberg is a former mining settlement
Source: dpa-tmn
During the construction of the works settlement from 1907 to 1914, no expense was spared with decorative flourishes, which is typical for the Art Nouveau style that was being phased out. There are even small pictures on the fence posts. And if you look closely, you will discover a system behind the arrangement of the slats.
But if you don’t have a soft spot for architecture and urban planning, you shouldn’t expect too much from a visit to Marga. A nice walk can always be made through the quiet streets.
Knappenrode near Hoyerswerda was a briquette factory
A visit to the Knappenrode energy factory near Hoyerswerda is impressive. The brick colossus was once a briquette factory. The old systems can be viewed and listened to on a tour – three times a day loudspeakers in the building provide the background noise that prevailed here when coal was still being sieved over several floors, dried and finally pressed.
Briquettes were mass-produced in the Knappenrode energy factory. Today the complex houses a museum commemorating the past
Source: dpa-tmn
The rumbling and shaking from the tape does not even correspond to the original volume. “We’re not allowed to do that,” says museum director Maria Schöne. But the muffled version is also quite loud. And during guided tours, machines such as the plate dryer are also started up – some of them are still functional.
There were 120 briquette factories in Lusatia, an impressive number. After the expansion of the railway network in the second half of the 19th century, they sprang up and processed what was delivered from the lignite mines in the area – in Knappenrode alone, 1500 tons of briquettes were produced per shift at its peak in the early 1990s Ending.
Some of the machines in the Knappenrode energy factory are still functional and are switched on during tours – that’s when it gets loud
Source: dpa-tmn
Today, a briquette factory is still in operation in the region. And the opencast mines are disappearing too. In 1980 there were still 19 of them here, but the decline picked up speed even more after reunification. Four mining areas are left and after the decision to phase out coal, they too are on the verge of extinction in the medium term.
That means there will be more lakes in the region.
Flooding the lakes is a complex process
Visit to the flood control center of the state mining remediation company LMBV. It is based on the outskirts of Senftenberg in a three-sided, nine-storey prefabricated building.
The head office of the mining sanitation company LMBV is located in this prefabricated building complex on the outskirts of Senftenberg
Source: dpa-tmn
Maik Ulrich explains how the flooding of the opencast mines in the region that are no longer used – known as residual holes – is done. These holes have to be flooded and rehabilitated in a controlled manner, says the water economist.
They would eventually fill up on their own, but then the water quality would be poor and the embankment would not be secured and could slide down. The result: large-scale closures around the pit. “There is virtually no alternative to the lake district,” says Ulrich.
Pyrite, also known as fool’s gold: when the mineral weathers, dissolved iron forms, from which iron ocher can form. This can pollute the water and turn it brown
Source: dpa-tmn
He and his colleagues in the flood control center act as intermediaries in the distribution and control of the water masses with which the remaining holes are filled. They coordinate with authorities and interest groups, such as inland navigation operators.
It is a complex process that the professional describes with more than a dozen slides full of charts, maps and graphs; only the schematic representation of the system of artificial ditches and canals with the lakes and rivers in the middle is reminiscent of the seemingly endless, ramified organization chart of some large authorities.
The role of lakes in the water cycle
There are two things that stick in the mind of the visit to the flood control center: First, the lakes not only take water from rivers such as the Spree and the Neisse. Especially in summer, they also release water – they are therefore a kind of temporary storage and fulfill their role in the region’s water cycle.
Secondly, active opencast mining still makes a major contribution to flooding the remaining holes. This is because groundwater is pumped out in the pits – this is the only way the coal can be mined. If the phase-out of coal comes soon, not only will more empty pits have to be filled, but there will also be a lack of water to continue flooding the existing lakes. In addition, there is climate change with droughts, which have been a cause for concern in recent years.
What effects this will ultimately have cannot yet be reliably assessed, says Maik Ulrich. Of course there are mind games as to where the lack of water could come from. But he doesn’t want to say anything about it yet.
The worries at the tourism association are not so great: the amount of water in the lakes that can be used by holidaymakers and that are being brought to the market is said to be secured. In the entire Seenland there are currently 20 lakes that are approved for swimming – the majority of them are flooded opencast mines.
In addition to Saxony, more vacationers from the south
Mining is dying slowly, but something new is emerging. Tourism as an economic sector in the region is becoming more and more important – and it should continue to grow.
The Senftenberger See is called the “bathtub of the Saxons” – and in fact, the majority of guests continue to come from there, for them it is just around the corner. Otherwise, it is mainly holidaymakers from the East who are welcomed here. But at the same time, a change can be felt. It is said that more and more tourists came from the south – Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.
Source: dpa; Infographic WORLD
Ambitious goals have been set: in the future, the annual number of overnight stays should almost double.
“The Spreewald is of course even better known,” says the representative of the regional tourist office, with a view to the holiday region competition a little further north. But the Lusatian Lake District, she says, is something more and more people are familiar with.
More information about the Lusatian Lake District:
Getting there: The Lusatian Lake District is located on the A13 autobahn between Dresden and Berlin, in the border region of Saxony and Brandenburg. Regional trains run to Senftenberg.
Anniversary: On June 1, 1973, the first beach section of Lake Senftenberg was opened. There are events throughout the year to celebrate this anniversary, with the central festival weekend taking place from June 2nd to 4th. Information: senftenberger-see.de/de/50years.html
Information: Tourism Association of the Lausitzer Seenland, lausitzerseenland.de
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