The village of Stepnoe Lake in the Altai Territory is located in the center of the Annunciation region. This place is one of 29 such villages of the region. In 1984, he was given the status of an urban-type settlement.
General information
The village of Stepnoe Lake dates back to 1960, it was then that it was founded. Previously, the village was called Khimdym, Khimik, Stroygaz.
The area occupied by the village is 3.7 square meters. km The current population is 6, 319. Local residents are called "steppe-watchers" and "steppe-watchers".
The time difference with Moscow at Stepnoy Lake is plus 4 hours.
The climate of these lands is temperate continental.
sights
The most famous attraction of these places is Kuchuk Lake. It was it that gave the name to the village. This is a rather large body of water, the width of which is 12 km, the length is 19 km.
The waters of this lake are saturated with various salts that have a beneficial effect on the human body. No less useful is the black mud that is mined from the bottom. It is noteworthy that the arthropod, the crustacean Artemy salina, is involved in the creation of the mud. This crustacean is able to live exclusively in very salty waters, and in fresh water dies within an hour. The crustacean eats algae. And the lake water becomes pinkish due to the presence of this crustacean in it.
The depth of the lake is very small - about 3 meters. Due to this feature, in summer the lake is able to warm up well, which attracts many swimmers. However, it should be borne in mind that salt water after bathing must be washed off.
It is also interesting that, due to the large volume of salts, the pond does not freeze in the winter. Therefore, you can freely admire its beauties.
The local sanatorium uses water and mud from this reservoir to treat its patients.
The town-forming enterprise of the village is Kuchuksulfat OJSC. It is a chemical plant producing natural sodium sulfate. It was founded in 1992. Currently, the plant employs 1, 210 people.
In addition to sodium sulfate, the company's products are detergents, fish feed.
A narrow gauge railway was built for the needs of the plant. Its length is 10 km. Along the narrow gauge railway, heavy freight trains are moving. Partially, the road goes through the dried Selitrennoe lake, from the bottom of which they are actively extracting salts.
In addition, in the village there are:
- medical college;
- high school;
- construction college;
- house of culture;
- swimming pool;
- various gyms;
- kindergartens;
- radio television center.
In 2011, a hockey team was formed in the Steppe Lake of the Blagoveshchensk District. They called her "Chemist."
