The lowering of the water level began May 10 and will continue
gradually until the end of the month, the Three Gorges Project Daily
said in its May 14 report.

The Three Gorges reservoir was filled to 135 metres above sea level
last June, but then raised unexpectedly to 139 metres in October. The
project’s policy-making body also decided at that time to fill the
reservoir to 156 metres in 2006,
one year earlier than planned. The reservoir is slated to reach 175
metres by the time the Three Gorges dam is completed in 2009.

The Three Gorges project authorities will be required to lower the
reservoir water level every year at this time before the flood season
begins in earnest.

The dam has been designed to control floods of a severity expected
to occur once every 100 years, the Three Gorges Project Daily said.
However, some strengthening work is currently required on the temporary
cofferdams that have been put in place during construction of the
right-bank powerhouse, Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of the
Three Gorges Project Corp., was quoted as saying.

Xu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the China Meteorological
Administration, has said that "an abnormal climate situation" could
exacerbate floods and drought this year, China Daily reported on April
17.

"China has seen soaring numbers of extreme-weather days and water shortages since the early 1990s," the newspaper added.

So far, the situation looks fairly normal in the Three Gorges area,
where the average runoff in May ranges from 11,700 to 13,600 cubic
metres a second. On May 13, runoff upstream of the Three Gorges dam was
10,800 cubic metres a second, and 11,522 cubic metres a second below
the Gezhouba dam (located 40 kilometres downstream of the Three Gorges
dam), according to figures posted on the website of the Three Gorges
Project Corp.