Initial situation

The Geiseltal Lake is one of the largest projects in Saxony-Anhalt. Coal mining ceased in the Geiseltal Valley in 1993 after nearly 300 years. The Mücheln opencast mine in the western part of the valley (south-west of Merseburg) was known not only as a source of lignite, but of large quantities of fossils, such as the Geiseltal dwarf horse. Mining, which had involved four different diversions of the river Geisel and the resiting of 16 villages or parts of villages, finally left an opencast mining pit with an area of about 2,600 hectares and a volume of about 1.3 billion m³.

Approach

The work on designing the after-use began in mid-1991. The objective of the basic mine rehabilitation was to create a post-mining landscape with after-use potential. Flooding of the Mücheln former lignite mine pit has been proceeding since 2003; this has been achieved in particular by using imported water for flooding the former mining pit, which has been rendered safe. Tapping water from outside sources is possible because of the extensive Stöbnitz Leiha-Petschbach Geisel drainage system from the Saale. The Geiseltal See Lake has been integrated into the State's “Blue Band” water tourism concept. A site for water sports and leisure activities a marina is being developed with State support, the first step being the excavation of the harbour basin and construction of paths and access roads.

Result

Fundamentally, multifunctional leisure, residential, and commercial uses have been established for the newly created Geiseltal Lake. The shore-side areas have already been prepared and are in use as vineyards. With a future surface area of 1,840 hectares it will be Saxony-Anhalt's largest lake, and the largest artificial lake in Germany. According to the planning, the filling of the former opencast mine pit will be complete in 2010. Camping sites, boathouses, holiday homes, a marina, beach areas, moorings, dry berths, slips, and gastronomic and tourist facilities will together form the basis for an area developing maritime tourism.