Tourists from Britain walk their bikes along the boardwalk at the marina of artifiticial Senftenberger See lake on August 26, 2013 in Senftenberg, Germany. Senftenberger See was once an open-pit lignite coal mine flooded after it shut down in the late 1960s, and today it is popular among tourists, windsurfers and fishermen. In a development project initiated by state government, other nearby former open-pit mines that once evoked a lunar landscape are being turned into lakes in a long-term rejuvenation effort that is also intended to make the area a viable tourist destination. Mineral residue from the mines, however, is proving a difficult stumbling block that is making many of the new lakes too acidic to sustain marine life in the short term.
{"Image ImageDescription": "SENFTENBERG, GERMANY - AUGUST 26:  Tourists from Britain walk their bikes along the boardwalk at the marina of artifiticial Senftenberger See lake on August 26, 2013 in Senftenberg, Germany. Senftenberger See was once an open-pit lignite coal mine flooded after it shut down in the late 1960s, and today it is popular among tourists, windsurfers and fishermen. In a development project initiated by state government, other nearby former open-pit mines that once evoked a lunar landscape are being turned into lakes in a long-term rejuvenation effort that is also intended to make the area a viable tourist destination. Mineral residue from the mines, however, is proving a difficult stumbling block that is making many of the new lakes too acidic to sustain marine life in the short term.  (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)", "Image Copyright": "2013 Getty Images"}