Water storage at Three Gorges amounts to 10 billion cubic meters THE water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir reached the predetermined 135 meters at 10 pm yesterday, five days ahead of schedule.

　　The reservoir of the Three Gorges Project, the largest water control project in the world, has stored 10 billion cubic meters of water since the sluice gates were closed on June 1.

　　With the rise in the water level, the first two power generating units began trial operations yesterday, and the Yangtze River, China's longest river on which the project is located, will reopen for navigation on Monday.

　　"Successful completion of water storage means the Three Gorges Project has overcome the first challenge of nature," said Zhang Chaoran, chief engineer of the Three Gorges Project Development Corp.

　　The Three Gorges Project embodied the pursuit and hard struggle of several generations of Chinese people, he said. It was a milestone in China's efforts to harness big rivers.

　　The Yangtze, with its source on the Tanggula Range on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, has 3,600 tributaries and its trunk course has a total length of 6,300 kilometers.

　　The river and its tributaries run through 18 provinces with a total population of 400 million, accounting for one-third of China's total population.

　　On average, there has been one devastating flood every 10 years on the river over the past 2,100 years. The two big floods in the 1930s alone killed nearly 300,000 people.

　　Harnessing the river has become a dream of the Chinese people. At the end of the 18th century, Sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of the Chinese revolution, proposed the building of a dam at the Three Gorges.

　　Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese government has placed construction of the project high on its agenda.

　　The National People's Congress, China's highest legislature, officially approved the 180-billion yuan (US.7 billion) Three Gorges Project in 1992.

　　During the 10-year construction, Chinese workers have set a series of technical records.

　　The Three Gorges Project will begin to pay dividends this year, playing an important role in flood control, power generation, navigation, water diversion and environmental protection.

　　Launched in 1993, the construction of the Three Gorges Project is scheduled for completion in 2009.