Former landfill in Männiku transformed into new lake with beach area
A former landfill site at the Männiku quarry has been turned into the newest lake in Harju County, complete with a public beach. The company behind the project wants to name it Lake Toomiku after a man who worked at the quarry throughout its existence.
Residents of Tallinn and its surroundings will soon have a new place to relax and sunbathe: the site of a former landfill at the Männiku quarry has become the newest lake in Harju County. Seven years ago the area was still a dump, but it has since been fully excavated and cleared.
At the request of the Saku rural municipality government, the company TREV2 has built a public beach area by the lake. According to TREV2 mining engineer Paul Toomik, the beach was designed with a very gentle slope — even about ten meters from the shore, the water depth remains just one meter, with deeper water only starting further out. This gives children a large and safe area to swim in.
Toomik noted that the quarry, which currently looks somewhat bleak, will become much more attractive over time, since many pine trees have already been planted around the lake. For now, the beach cannot be reached by car, but access is expected to improve once the neighboring quarry finishes its operations next year.
A possible name
The company wants to name the new body of water Lake Toomiku, after the man who worked at the quarry for its entire existence. Whether the lake officially receives this name will depend on the Saku municipal government and the Land and Spatial Development Board.
Annika Lebert, head of the board's address and administrative division service, said any place name must comply with the Law on Geographical Names — it must be tied to the location it names and must meet Estonian-language requirements. She added that the board has no objections to the name "Toomiku," describing it as a nice Estonian name without any particular issues.
According to old maps, a hundred years ago the area now occupied by the lake was nothing but sand and an empty field. However, a street called Tooma already exists nearby, which may be connected to the proposed name.
