Dangerously cheap

We have only recently written, in our paper edition (45/2008), about a new lake that is emerging in the Most region. The report has been long lost in the heap of new events. But now there is something really colossal going on quietly and slowly in the north of Bohemia.

Extraction has been slowly subsiding in all of the mines and should be completely over in some 30 years. Simultaneously with the withdrawal of the machinery, dozens of kilometres of free landscape are coming back to life. And the question of what to do with this land is resurfacing.

The sight of the abandoned mines is fascinating in its own way. It is not a treat for the eye: The dug-out ground shows that something more than strange took place here. But it is quite exciting to watch the return of grass, trees and animals into the land where all life seemed to have disappeared. Until now, the north has lived out of plundering its natural resources, and that has taken its toll both on the land and the people who lived there.

So far it seems there is no doubt about what to do with this opportunity: The mines are being filled with water one after another. One look at the map of north Bohemia from Ústí nad Labem to Sokolov reminds one of the country of a thousand lakes. And more lakes should appear.

So far the flooding has proven to work. The former mine Chabařovice near Ústí nad Labem where the author of this article used to admire the…