Czechs angry at severe water loss caused by Polish mining - The Ecologist
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On first sight, life in Vitkov seems idyllic. But right on the other side of the hill bordering the village, lies the Polish Turow lignite mine, an open-pit quarry stretching over more than 3,000 hectares.
In more than half a century of operations, the mine - which uses an estimated 200 million cubic meters of water a year - has been drying up ground and surface waters in the region, including this Czech village of Vitkov.
Inhabitants of Vitkov point to dried up creeks and tell stories of how they have to dig their wells deeper and deeper to get drinking water. To provide water for the local kindergarten, the municipality had to invest 37,000 euros to dig a well as deep as 70 meters. And most locals have had to use their own money to rebuild their wells over time.
The Turow mine was initially planned to operate until 2020. But now Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) - the Polish state-owned company operating Turow - wants permission to keep digging until 2044. It says the coal is needed to fuel a new 450 MW unit the company is planning to build at the Turow power plant, a project for which financing has already been secured.