Jy Margrit Pittman

N SENFTENBERG, GDR
+ Normally a “no fishing” sign is a matter of
indifference to me. I prefer fish cleaned and
from the store. But here the sign, at the edge
of a reed-lined pond, commands attention

ause this water — with calmly cruising
Swans — consists of the waste from a nearby
lignite mine.

We had passed water that flows into this
Pond earlier. It flowed rusty brown through a
Canal. ‘Remember this water,’”’ our guide, a
Scientist from the water conservation office
had told us. “It’s acid and will kill all life.

nee show it to you again where ‘it sustains °
e.”

Now we are standing at the edge of a
Tomantic blue pond, the last station of the
water clearage project before it enters the
Black Elster river. “We already have 23
types of birds breeding here.” The deadly,
Tusty waters are a peculiarity of the lignite in

IS area. Chemicals contained in the soil
Oxidize to form iron-dioxite and sulphuric
acid. To prevent river pollution this toxic
mixture is treated with the aid of ashes, slag
and alkaloid industrial wastes. This
naturalizes the water and improves it so that
Sweet water plants and animals can prosper.

“We are making this a nature reserve,”
an expert from the district environmental
Station says. “It offers us an opportunity to
Study how nature behaves in our ‘planned
landscape’.” This ‘planned landscape’ is
Part of a large scale environmental recon-
Stitution scheme of the German Democratic
Republic to overcome the devastation of
strip mining. Lignite, a brown coal, is the
country’s foremost natural resource, its
Main energy reserve will last well beyond
the year 2,000. The GDR has 18 billion tons of
known lignite deposits and 250 million tons
a mined annually — 40% of world produc-

on.

The Cottbus district, where Senftenberg
is located, has 60% of these lignite deposits
and strip mining has been going on for 130
years. In the capitalist past strip mining left
behind huge eroded tracts. In the first years
of building socialism, though the Constitu-
_ tion provided for the protection of the en-
vironment, reclamation was on a small
Scale, but in May 1970, a law was adopted
Providing that ‘land biologically destroyed
by economic-technological uses must be re-
Claimed and redeveloped to secure their pub-
lic and social use. . .”

_Responsibility for this was given to the
mine operators. Though mines are publicly
Owned, the law defined the responsibility of
the extracting enterprises in detail. Areas
used for mining must be reclaimed promptly
and, if feasible and desirable from the plan-
ning point of view, restituted to its previous
use. The dustbowls left by lignite extraction
have to go. The cost of this reclamation effort
to thé mining enterprises, I was told, runs to
about 4% of the extraction costs plus the in-
vestment in special machines needed, which
Seemed a small price to pay.

Water purification is a small part of the
thane aceted, long range projects to do just

We drove to a strip mine and stood on a -

8Tassy knoll to look upon a vast expanse of
ey waste. In a distance a huge machine
“4g into the soil, spitting out sand and cart-
ing away the precious coal. This deposit will
4 exhausted in April 1978. Meanwhilenearly

600 acres have been stripped and about 50%
already reclaimed.

‘anaging such programs is a complex
cae Reclamation projects are planned
Se in advance of the digging. Maps of the
E itenberg lignite deposits show the de-

©‘opment since 1850 before exploitation be-
ae By 1960 large areas had been devastated
ra Only a small area reforested. Since 1970
shyamation has made progress. The map
ae S large reforested areas and areas re-
thee for agriculture, one reservoir and
wilt clearage installation. By 1990 there
and four interconnected man-made lakes
x all the land with the exception of one
Bee Site will be reclaimed for agriculture
T as forests,

on,

Conditions for. the reclaimed land are
stringent. Agricultural cooperatives are not
forced to take over reclaimed areas unless
they conform to specifications. The agricul-
tural land must have adequately fertile soil
and access roads must have been built. To
accomplish this, top soil is removed and
stored before mining operations start to be
spread over thé leveled soil when the mine is
exhausted.

Sometimes a bonus is found while digging

coal. In one instance large deposits of silice- .

ous sand —used in glass manufacture — was
found and carefully managed. Elsewhere a
sand suitable for agricultural uses was found
deep in the pit. It turned out to be very fertile.
Generally, it has been possible to improve

the reconstituted agricultural soil. While

previously wheat could not be grown here it
is now possible to get good yields of iton some
of the new fields.

The most striking difference between the
1850 and the 1990 maps of the area is that
where there were a few small ponds there
will be four large reservoirs of more than
2,500 acres each. ; ;

Since strip mining forms a hole in the
earth since it removes deposits from the soil
— if the removed mass is large, as in this
district, the hole will be large and a good part
of it below the ground water level. When dig-

‘ging is completed and the ground water

permitted to rise again lakes are formed and
become a valuable addition to the district’s
water resources. Irrigation, industrial uses,

fish breeding and recreation are some of the .

uses.

The Senftenberg Lake, formed in 1966-73,
gives a preview of the district’s future. It is
five miles across at its widest point, has a 20
mile shoreline and an island of about 400
acres. The island will be a preserve. At pre-
sent it is only partially planted and closed to

the public because it still ‘‘settles.”

’ We lunched at the Lakeview restaurant —

which stands amidst new lakeside apart-
ment buildings. (The rent is the same as
elsewhere, the view free of charge.) Urban
development will only be permitted on small
stretches of beach. The entire area will be-
come a large recreational area. At present
just under 5,000 acres of recreation area
have been developed — pine woods and 100
acres of fine sandy beach. The beach was

made in the process of digging because sand
is plentiful in the strip mines. At present the
area has camping grounds for 400 tents, 300
furnished bungalows for four to six persons

each, sports fields, restaurants, stores, a lib-

rary, a first aid station, social hall and a
campfire pit with an adjacent dance floor.
The beach, with life guards, is admission

free. Row boats and water bikes are for rent

and an excursion steamer plies the water.
Sailboats are admitted and proliferate but
motor boats are banned.

Most of the bungalows belong to trade un-
ions, and rental, including linen, ranges from
14 to 24 marks a night ($5.50 to 9.50). Union
members get price reductions of up to 75%. A-
special feature of the bungalow colony is that
all prefabricated types available in the GDR
have been used. “‘It gives us an opportunity
to test which types are preferred,’’ the
camp’s administrator told us. The large
bungalows have water heaters, all have elec-
tricity and cooking facilities.

“Many of the facilities, especially the
landscaping and sports fields, were installed
in the framework of the ‘‘Mach mit” (work
along) movement,’ he said. This movement
under the auspices of the National Front

the way it was

oe x

augments state capacities by organizing
projects for people willing to volunteer time
after working hours. ‘‘We had 300 to 400
people working at one time when we wanted
to get the beach ready for the season,” a
member of the district council says. “‘There
were even some Polish friends from the dis-
trict with which we have a friendship agree-
ment. They helped work an entire weekend
and they enjoyed it, too.”’ Cottbus district is
located at the Polish border.

But what happens to people who must
move to make way for mining? Walter
Guenther, member of the Cottbus District
Council answers. First of all, efforts are
made to preserve settlements. In Kleinkos-
chen, an exploited mine is now filled with
water, and a decision had been made to re-

_ tain the settlement and leave the lignite un-

derneath intact. ‘‘Since 1960 we have moved
1,200 people. Preparations for that start a
long time ahead of the digging. Discussions
are held with those whose houses are con-
demned. By law they are very adequately
compensated and the local government must
find them acceptable housing. Most of the
people were rather glad to move into modern
housing with all amenities. But some did not
want to change their way of life. For them
exchanges were sought in other villages. It
took a long time to locate them, but most
found a satisfactory new home. Some of
them were craftsmen with small repair
shops and we made every effort to relocate
them. Others were old and near pension age
and quite happy to give up their work.

“If you went around and asked them to-
day, you would find that most of them
wouldn’t want to return to the homes that
were pulled down,’ Guenther said. “‘Gener-
ally we find that the population is pleased
with planned landscape and of course it will
improve with the years.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 21, 1977—Page 7