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The builders of the Three Gorges dam are raising the reservoir water level faster than planned to address navigation problems that have occurred downstream and to boost power generation, Chinese press reports say.

The reservoir, which was filled to 135 metres above sea level in June, is to be raised by 0.4 metres a day in the last 10 days of October, the Chongqing Business News (Chongqing shangbao) reported on Monday [Sept. 29]. "The gradual and smooth increase in water level will have little impact on shipping, so there is no need to halt navigation on the Yangtze River," the newspaper said.

Zigui: Plan had been to keep the reservoir at 135 metres until 2006 [Click on image to enlarge]

An article published Tuesday [Sept. 30] in the Three Gorges Project Daily (Sanxia gongcheng bao) provides a bit of background to last week’s sudden, unexplained announcement that the reservoir is to be raised an additional four metres by the end of this month.

The decision departs from the long-established project timetable, according to which the reservoir was to have remained at 135 metres until being raised to 156 metres in 2006.

"To ensure the smooth functioning of shipping operations below the Gezhouba dam and the proper functioning of the first installed generators [at the Three Gorges dam], the Three Gorges Corporation proposed raising the reservoir by four metres," the Three Gorges Project Daily said.

"This proposal was submitted to the dam project’s decision-making body, the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee [TGPCC]. After an expert team from the State Council conducted an on-site investigation and assessment of the feasibility of the proposal, the TGPCC approved the plan to raise the reservoir water level to 139 metres in October, and then issued a notice to that effect on Sept. 23, 2003."

According to the original project design, the flow of the river below the Gezhouba dam, 40 kilometres downstream of the Three Gorges project, was supposed to be at least 3,200 cubic metres a second, the newspaper said.

"But after filling the Three Gorges reservoir to 135 metres this June, and especially after the end of the flood season, problems have occurred with shipping in the section of the river below Gezhouba," the Three Gorges Project Daily said. "Raising the reservoir by four metres is aimed at increasing the runoff and improving navigation conditions there."

The move will also help "promote the operational stability and effectiveness" of the four installed turbines (the first of at least 26 planned for the Three Gorges dam), and provide an additional 700 million kilowatt hours of hydropower this year, the newspaper said.

One district and four counties near the dam will be affected by this month’s inundation, with more than 1,000 people relocated sooner than anticipated, a 3,000-metre stretch of highway having to be built higher and several small ports along the river strengthened, the report said.

Meanwhile, the Hubei Daily (Hubei ribao) reported that 1,297 people from 384 households will have to be moved quickly from their homes, and that 3,432 mu (220 hectares) of farmland will be submerged.

"Workers face a really big challenge in cleaning up the area and settling the affected population in just one month," the newspaper said in its Sept. 29 report. Some key infrastructure, such as ports, highways, bridges and schools, will have to be rebuilt on higher ground.

Officials also face the urgent task of salvaging archeological relics that will be submerged earlier than anticipated, and completing geological-disaster prevention work in the area, the newspaper said.

Hubei provincial authorities have already convened a special meeting in Yichang, near the dam site, to urge local officials to do their best in carrying out the State Council’s directive. Areas affected by the decision include Yiling district, Zigui, Xingshan and Badong counties in Hubei, and Wushan county in Chongqing municipality, the Hubei Daily said.

Workers involved in the reservoir-bed cleanup and the resettlement operation have vowed to work hard in the next month, and are even giving up their weeklong National Day holiday in view of the tight schedule, the newspaper said.