UsolE-Sibirskoe

(until 1940, Usol’e), a city under oblast jurisdiction and the administrative center of Usol’e Raion, Irkutsk Oblast, RSFSR. Landing on the left bank of the Angara River. Station on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, 67 km northwest of Irkutsk. Population, 100,000 (1976).

Usol’e-Sibirskoe has a saltworks. The chemical industry is represented by a chemical combine and a chemical-pharmaceutical combine, the wood-products industry by the Baikal Plywood and Match Combine, and light industry by a chrome plant and a garment factory. Food processing is another important industry in the city, which also has plants for the production of building materials, including a reinforced-concrete products plant. A district heat and power plant is located at Usol’e-Sibirskoe. The city has a branch of the Irkutsk Polytechnic Institute, a chemical-mechanical technicum, and a medical school.

A balneopeloid health resort is located on the banks of the Angara, 4 km from Usol’e-Sibirskoe and 68 km from Irkutsk. The summers are warm, and the winters cold. The average July temperature is 18°C; the average January temperature is – 23°C. Annual precipitation totals 360 mm. Therapeutic remedies include sodium chloride water, which in diluted form is used for baths, and mud from Lake Mal’ta, which is 12 km from the health resort. Treatment is provided for diseases of the organs of locomotion and support, gynecological disorders, and diseases of the peripheral nervous system. There is a sanatorium for adults and children, and a water- and mud-treatment building.