ARTIFICIAL LAKES IN FORMER LIGNITE OPEN-PITS AND THEIR UTILITY IN AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMY.

Remanent voids of former open-pits can be re-used in different directions with major benefits, irrespective of their future use, due to the fact that they involve the rehabilitation and the reentry into the economic or ecological circuit of large areas of degraded mining land. An increasingly common method, applied worldwide, is the flooding of remanent voids and the formation of artificial lakes that can take up many functions. Artificial lakes formed in former open-pits are also known as "open-pit lakes." These occur after the cessation of exploitation as a result of naturally or artificially flooding of the remanent voids. In Romania, this method is less known, but it must be taken into account that the functions that an open-pit lake can take and their major benefits, will play an important role in the sustainable development of a former mining regions. In the case of deep open-pits, as in the case of lignite open-pits, with a high probability of intercepting deep aquifers with high water inflows, the formation of artificial lakes is the optimal choice as natural floods are favored, and the costs are minimal. The present paper presents the case of the North Pesteana lignite open-pit, for which, at the moment of the cessation of the exploitation activity, the flooding of the remanent void is pursued. The remanent void of the North Pesteana open-pit will be of impressive dimensions. It presents a high flooding opportunity, primarily due to the very favorable hydrogeological conditions in the region. The lake formed in the remanent void of the North Pesteana open-pit will bring a number of benefits to local communities and beyond, these being detailed in this paper. The general aim of the paper is to increase, at national and regional level (at the level of Rovinari Mining Basin), the degree of knowledge regarding the possibilities of flooding of the remanent voids and the use of artificial lakes formed in former lignite open-pits, but also the benefits that they can have, on a medium and long term, on human communities, from a socio-economic and environmental point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]