The operation to raise the water level of the Three Gorges reservoir to 175 meters began early Tuesday.

The level rose to 146.3 meters as of 11:00 AM Tuesday, up from the 145.87-meter mark when the operation began, said a spokesman for the control center of the China Three Gorges Project Corporation, the developer.

"All 26 turbogenerators have been operating normally, and all spillways and other deep-set holes in the dam were shut down to serve the water raising," said the spokesman.

China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and Yangtze River Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters issued a written statement Monday with the approval of the State Council, the country's Cabinet.

The water level behind the dam would be raised to 175 meters by the end of October, at a maximum of three meters a day. If the level is below the 175-meter mark by the end of October, water raising will continue into November.

The Three Gorges Project, initiated in 1993, is a multi-functional water control system built on the upper and middle reaches of the country's longest waterway, the Yangtze River.

Its main components are the dam, a five-tier set of ship locks, and 26 hydropower turbo-generators. Its key functions are flood control, power generation, water supplies and shipping service.

The project is expected to fully play its multifunctional roles after the water level reaches 175 meters.

An inspection panel led by Chen Lei, minister of water resources, late last month gave a license of approval for the project to store water to 175 meters, signaling the completion of the project.

The project cost 184.9 billion yuan (US$27.19 billion), including 69.3 billion yuan spent in resettling 1.27 million residents, according to Lu Chun, deputy head of the office of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee under the State Council.

The Three Gorges Project began power generation in June 2003, and had generated 320.82 billion kwh of hydropower by late June this year, and sold 318.8 billion kwh of clean energy to state power grids which supply east, central, southern parts of the country.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2009)