Lake Uvildy

Uvildy is the largest (68.1 square kilometres) and deepest (up to 38 metres) lake of Chelyabinsk Oblast, with water clarity of 6–8 metres and low mineralization. It lies among granite hills where the Argayash district meets the Kyshtym district; 'uyelde' in Bashkir means 'hollow', so the precise translation is 'lake in a hollow', though tourist texts prefer the poetic 'blue bowl'. The islands are a legendary feature: as early as 1762 the academician Pyotr Rychkov wrote that 'the islands on it are so numerous that up to five hundred are counted'. In reality dozens of low granite islands are scattered across the surface. The water is high-radon — 473 nanocuries per litre; radon springs and a clinic of the same name operate on the shore, and the lake has been protected as a nature monument since 1969. History remembers a drama too: during the 1975 drought the water was diverted through a canal to the Argazi reservoir, the level dropped four metres and did not recover until 2006. Today dozens of health resorts line the shores, but the northern shore by the Ripus settlement and wild granite capes keep their pristine look.