The best traffic-free bike rides around Muldestausee

Today, an developed network of cycle paths and hiking trails with viewing platforms and information boards on the formation of the landscape extends along the Neuhäuser See. The 120 km long Kohle-Dampf-Licht cycle path from Lutherstadt Wittenberg to Markkleeberg passes by the lake. Source https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuh%C3%A4user_See

In the mid-19th century, the first mining activities began in the southwest of Goitzsche, near the villages of Petersroda and Holzweißig.[3] Following the lignite seam, mining progressed from west to east. Favored by the opening of the current Magdeburg–Leipzig and Trebnitz–Leipzig railway lines, the sales market for lignite expanded to Halle and Leipzig, among other places. The increased demand for electrical energy and fossil fuels in the 19th and 20th centuries led in 1908 to the opening of the Leopold open-cast mine (from 1945 to 1962 Holzweißig–Ost) and in 1958 to the creation of the Holzweißig-West open-cast mine.[3] The Neuhäuser See originated from the former Holzweißig-West lignite open-cast mine. It is named after the Neuhaus estate, which was demolished in 1976 along with the village of Paupitzsch. The Holzweißig-West open-cast mine was operated from 1958 to 1980. Other sources report usage until 1991. The lake was flooded from 1993 to 2005.[1] Overflowing water is channeled via the Goitzsche into the Mulde. Since 1997, the area has been renatured and stable embankments have been created. Source https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuh%C3%A4user_See

The Neuhäuser See is located on the northwestern border of the Free State of Saxony with Saxony-Anhalt, at an altitude of about 78 m above sea level. NN. South of the lake is Benndorf, a district of the North Saxon district town of Delitzsch, and to the north is the unified municipality of Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Saxony-Anhalt. It is located in the Central German Lake District, south of the Großer Goitzschesee and the waters Ludwigsee and Paupitzscher See. Quelle https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuh%C3%A4user_See

The Neuhäuser See (also Neuhauser See) is an opencast mine residual lake of approximately 155 hectares, which was created by flooding the former Holzweißig-West opencast mine. The lake is located in the Central German Lake District, south of the Goitzsche nature reserve and north of the town of Delitzsch. Source https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuh%C3%A4user_See

View from the dam wall onto the reservoir

The barrier structure near Friedersdorf is a 19 m high and 303 m long gravity dam with a construction volume of 40,000 m³. On February 17, 2023, a hydropower plant was commissioned, which is expected to generate 13.6 GWh of electrical energy per year. The construction cost 25 million euros and began in October 2016.[1] Source https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muldestausee

The normal water level is around 79 m above sea level with a storage volume of approx. 115 million m³. The role of the Muldestausee as a flood retention basin is insignificant. However, the basin can temporarily retain 3 million m³ during floods (difference between total storage and usable storage). In fact, it is not a reservoir in the true sense, but rather a river dam. Since the flow velocity of the Mulde slows down considerably upon entering the lake, the Muldestausee acts as a sedimentation trap, into which approx. 400,000 t of solids (gravel, sand, silt) are deposited annually. These solids are missing from the river upon exiting the outlet structure, leading to a greater deepening of the riverbed of the lower Mulde and having ecological consequences. Source https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muldestausee

After the excavation of coal from the Muldenstein open-cast mine (1954–1975), the relocation of the Mulde river over a distance of approximately eleven kilometers was necessary to expand the Goitzsche open-cast mine (today's Großer Goitzschesee). Part of the new river course was laid through the excavated Muldenstein open-cast mine. Flooding took place from April 30, 1975, to March 1, 1976. The Muldestausee lake has an inlet and an outlet structure. Source https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muldestausee