Photo de stock - 06 January 2022, Brandenburg, Cottbus: View over the edge of the former Cottbus-Nord opencast lignite mine to the Jänschwalde lignite-fired power plant, where steam rises from the cooling towers. This is where the future Cottbus East Lake is to be created in just a few years. Flooding began at the former Cottbus-Nord open pit mine in mid-April 2019. The energy company Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG) is allowing water to flow from the Spree via the Hammergraben into the open pit for flooding - a total of around 45 million cubic meters per year. The huge artificial lake is reported to have a water surface area of 19 square kilometers and to have reached the required water level of 2.70 meters in the middle of the lake by around 2025. Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB. - Cottbus/Brandenburg/Germany