Article from 09/28/2010

Extreme Makeover: The Watery Future of East Germany's Coal Mines

by Jess Smee, Spiegel online, International

Swathes of land in eastern Germany are undergoing an ambitious facelift: Derelict open-cast mines dating from communist East Germany are being flooded, transforming the area into Europe's biggest artificial lake district. Developers hope it will become a tourist magnet as well.

What to do if you have a series of gaping hole twice the size of Berlin in your backyard? That unusual conundrum has dogged Germany's Lusatia region for decades. [...]

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