China's Three Gorges Reservoir completed this year's tentative impoundment at 2 p.m. on Wednesday to store water at the target of 175 meters above sea level.
It marks the 11th straight year that the reservoir, which is located at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, achieved the 175-meter target, according to the Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.
The commission said five major floods occurred in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River from July to August, and the water in the main watercourse and tributaries of the Yangtze River surpassed the warning levels. The reservoirs along the river, with the Three Gorges one as the core, stored some 50 billion cubic meters of floodwater, effectively ensuring safety and making use of flood resources.
According to statistics, the average discharge of the Three Gorges Reservoir has been about 21,000 cubic meters per second from September 10 to the end of October, which is the largest discharge in the same period since the tentative impoundment.
Monitoring data show that all cascade reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River have basically completed impoundment tasks, and most hydropower stations have seen their power generation hit a record high.
