Statistics from two automatic water quality monitoring stations, located at each end of the reservoir area, show that water quality has undergone hardly any changes.

"Water quality at each end has stayed at grade one or grade two," said Wan Bentai, head of the China National Environmental Monitoring Center.

Water quality is usually classified in five grades, with grade one representing the best quality and grade five the worst.

Efforts are being made to curb possible water pollution in the reservoir areas, said Hong Yaxiong, an official with the Planning and Financial Department of the State Environmental Protection Administration.

According to Hong, 19 sewage treatment plants will be completed in the reservoir areas of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality before next June, when the reservoir starts to preserve water. There will be four built in Central China's Hubei Province by that deadline. In addition, 13 garbage treatment plants will be built in Chongqing, and four in Hubei by June.

The projects will need a total of more than 3.7 billion yuan (US$450 million) of investment. Construction of most of the plants has already kicked off, Hong said. He added that 12 townships in Chongqing and eight in Hubei along the Yangtze River have completed their preparations for building sewage and garbage treatment plants.

The Three Gorges Project is scheduled to be completed in 2009. The second phase includes filling the Three Gorges Reservoir, commencing navigation, and generating electricity by 2003.

(China Daily November 14, 2002)