Stock Photo - 13 May 2019, Brandenburg, Cottbus: Panoramic view over the former opencast lignite mine Cottbus-Nord. The blue measuring point indicates the future waterline. Flooding of the former Cottbus-Nord open-cast mine began in mid-April 2019. The flooding of the huge pit is to create the so-called Baltic Sea. According to the energy company Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG), the operator, water is to flow from the Spree via the Hammergraben into the open-cast pit - a total of around 45 million cubic metres per year. The huge artificial lake will have a water surface of almost 19 square kilometres. In 2025, according to LEAG, the water will have reached the necessary minimum height of 2.70 metres in the middle of the lake. Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB. - Cottbus/Brandenburg/Germany