Today, people can swim in a lake in the same spot. Vráblíková and Wildová in a 2020 Springer book, Assessment and Protection of Water Resources in the Czech Republic , Lake Most was made by flooding a former coal quarry, and the filling was completed in 2014, according to a chapter by Vráblík. Some places often get a second life. In the north of the Czech Republic, a coal mine got one too. A whole town was torn down to reach the coal.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the old town of Most was demolished to make space for the Ležáky brown coal (lignite) mine. What was left was a huge hole in the ground. The town church was moved to a new location and is still standing by the lake. Researchers checked the living organisms present in the lakes, as well as their chemical composition. The team found diverse microbes and plankton, and the mix changed with the seasons, which suggests the lakes are still developing. Sulfates and dissolved solids went over the threshold at Medard and Milada, and one hydrocarbon measure, called C10 to C40, went over at Lake Most. That could be a good reminder that a young lake needs to be tested regularly.
Mining there ceased in 1999. In a 2025 study published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment , researchers analyzed four lakes that were used for mining activities in the past in the Czech Republic: Medard, Milada, Most, and Barbora.
Water chemistry was mostly within acceptable limits, according to this study.
