Stock Photo - 15 July 2019, Brandenburg, Cottbus: The steaming cooling towers of the Jänschwalde lignite-fired power plant can be seen behind the former Cottbus-Nord open-cast lignite mine, the future Cottbus Baltic Sea. The entire sandy area in the foreground will be covered with water once. The Cottbus Baltic Sea is created. Flooding of the former Cottbus-Nord open-cast mine began in mid-April 2019. Due to the renewed drought this year, the flooding of the huge pit has already been suspended for several weeks. According to the operator, the energy company Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG), water will flow from the Spree via the Hammergraben into the open-cast pit for the flooding - a total of around 45 million cubic metres per year. The huge artificial lake is said to have reached a water surface of 19 square kilometres and in about 2025 the required water level of 2.70 metres in the middle of the lake. Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB. - Cottbus/Brandenburg/Germany