The water level in the Three Gorges reservoir is expected to rise to 156 meters a week behind schedule as the original water storage plan has been postponed.

The postponement was partly blamed on less water from upstream areas including southwestern Sichuan Province and neighboring Chongqing Municipality, both hit earlier by a severe drought, said the China Three Gorges Project Cooperation (CTGPC).

The water level reached 153.62 meters at 7 PM on Friday, a rise of 18.12 meters from 135.5 meters on September 20, when the water level started to rise.

The company said that the water level will hover at 153.7 meters in the coming four days.

According to the original plan, the water level was expected to rise to 156 meters between October 15 and 20.

The reservoir now holds about 21.9 billion cubic meters of water as 9.3 billion cubic meters of was added to it over the past month.

Meanwhile, the company said that more water flowed downstream over the past few days to meet demand in provinces and cities along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China's longest.

The river saw record low water levels this summer as several provinces and cities along it were hard hit by drought.

CTGPC said that in the coming week, moderate and heavy rains are expected to hit areas upstream the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydro-electric project, accelerating the rise of water level.

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2006)