Pahorek Butte – remembrance of an old spoil dump

KARVINÁ – The designation of the recultivation project called 'Křemenec area recultivation' derives from the name of the area locally known as 'Na Křemenci' (The Quartzite Site) at the boundary separating the communities of Karviná-Doly, Doubrava and Orlová. Within the area to the northwards of the state highway I/59 Ostrava – Karviná, adjoining the premises of what used to be the Doubrava Mine, there is a subsidence valley where a system of sludge ponds was built during the 1980s to serve as a wastewater treatment station for all the wastewaters coming from the Doubrava mining site. The ponds were called by the name of the now defunct settlement of Dembina which had to give way to coal mining. In the past the area was traversed by the upper reaches of Doubrava rivulet. Today its former riverbed is hidden under high spoilbanks. The outflow from the tubing now installed under the body of the Lazy – Doubrava railway siding upstreams of the bitumen batch/mixing plant is regarded today as the actual source of the Doubrava rivulet.

In connection with the termination of operations of the Doubrava mine and the step-wise liquidation of its surface facilities the wastewater treatment station lost its point, and the decision was taken to recultivate the entire area, of a size of 40 ha. The main thrust of recultivation work was aimed to give the area a new landscaping making use of backfills and spoil embankments. Mine spoils totalling 1.1 mil. m³ in volume coming from CSA Mine and also from an old spoilbank taken apart right on the recultivation site were used for this purpose. Thus, the sole remembrance remaining of the old dumpsite is a little butte with a mast of very high voltage electric grid line erected on top, The butte offers a fine view of the surroundings. The new landscaping includes a topsoil layer seeded with grass, and is complemented by randomly sited clusters of trees and shrubs. In response to a request made by naturalists, the area also features a pond retained on the site of the former buffer reservoir, as a stabilising element affording an environmental balance to the landscape.

The recultivation project was implemented as part of the Moravia-Silesia revitalisation programme. The total costs of landscape renewal amounted to CZK 100 million. Presently the recultivated area is waiting for its future use which will be in keeping with the plans and intentions of the owner of the site, the RPG RE Property Co., in accord with the land-use plan of Karviná Town.

Vlasta Vaculíková