A massive and deepest lake will be built in the center of Poland. A paradise for sailors and tourists.

• In the area of ​​today's lignite mining in Bełchatów, a paradise for sailors and tourists is to be created in the future.
• Instead of the two open-pit mines of the Bełchatów Brown Coal Mine, there will be, among other things, two huge lakes.
• - The water surface of one of them will have an area of ​​​​approximately 4,000 hectares, and its maximum depth will be approximately 170 m, which is about 70 meters more than the depth of Lake Hańcza - announces PGE.

Two open pit mines at the Bełchatów Lignite Mine will be transformed into a massive artificial lake after coal mining ceases. The reservoir is to be the deepest in Poland and attract tourists and sailors , reports the Ddbelchatow.pl website.

The website reminds us that the Bełchatów Lignite Mine is the largest open-pit mine in Poland and one of the largest in Europe. Coal is extracted from the Bełchatów Field and the Szczerców Field. The former will cease mining operations in 2026 , while the latter's concession runs until 2038. However, it's possible that the excavators will finish digging the raw material several years earlier.

The Polish Energy Group (PGE) has been announcing for several years that after the exploitation of huge open-pit mines , it wants to turn them into a "Bełchatów Masuria", which in the future is to become a true paradise for tourists and sailors.

A huge beach, a marina and many other attractions are planned around the artificial lake, which is to be the deepest in Poland.

- In the Bełchatów Field - one of the two mining fields of the Bełchatów Mine, work has been carried out for several years to prepare the mine area for its ultimate water reclamation - PGE informed in a press release from April 2023.

In the Bełchatów Complex, post-mining areas are being shaped with the intention of creating two of the deepest lakes in Poland in the future, which will be combined into one large reservoir at the final stage of reclamation.

- the company said.

- The water surface of the Bełchatów lake will have an area of ​​​​approximately 4,000 hectares, and its maximum depth will be approximately 170 meters, which is approximately 70 meters more than the depth of Lake Hańcza - PGE announced in 2023.

At the end of 2020, work on shaping the eastern shoreline was completed, and the area for the future beach was prepared. Until recently, according to official data, the Bełchatów open pit was 8.5 kilometers long and 3.2 kilometers wide at its widest point. Its depth was a staggering 310 meters.

Currently, it's 245 meters deep, and ultimately, it's expected to reach 190-195 meters, with the lake itself, taking into account the water table elevation, expected to be approximately 170 meters deep. Shallowing the pit requires enormous amounts of soil, or overburden, which is currently being transported from the neighboring Szczerców Field.

- we read in Ddbelchatow.pl.

The portal reports that next steps will include forming the slopes, smoothing their slopes, strengthening them, and securing them. Once these works are complete, the opening will be filled with water , gradually reducing drainage, which will result in the excavation filling with deep water.

At the same time, water from surface streams will be directed into the excavation. The second open pit, the adjacent Szczerców Field, will also be filled with water. When might this happen?

Only after coal mining ceases around 2038 and mining operations prepare the open pit for transformation into a reservoir will the mine begin. The mine does not hide the possibility that in the future, the two filling lakes may be combined into one.

* * *

Recently, however, Bełchatów has been increasingly discussed in the context of plans to build a second nuclear power plant , which would be located in close proximity to the current conventional power plant, which is expected to operate until 2036.

- It seems that the scenario of an artificial lake and a nuclear power plant operating side by side is quite realistic, if, of course, the government decides to choose the Bełchatów location - concludes the Ddbelchatow.pl portal.