On April 14, the Three Gorges water conservancy commission has quicken the pace of discharging the water in the Three Gorges Reservoir. At 8am, the speed of the discharge has surpassed that of the water coming from the upstream, and reached 14,000 cubic meters per second. The below is a report from Xinhua News Agency.

The water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir has been dropping since April 22th. According to the information released by the Yangtze River Flood Control and Operation Office, the water level will be soon reduced to 145m, which is the water-level limit of the reservoir in the flood season. It also means that the flood prevention regulation period starts.

Every year from December to the coming April is the period when water supplement is needed in the Three Gorges Reservoir. The water discharge keeps at a certain volume in order to provide abundant water resources for Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, to meet the needs for industrial and agricultural production, and to strengthen the inland water cycle. The discharge flow is 800 cubic meters per second, larger than the natural inflow average.

During the time of the spring flood, the water inflow from the upstream is larger than average when compared with the previous year. Thus the flood-control system is regulated earlier than usual, in order to quicken the steps of water discharge, sustain the safety of the reservoir and enhance storage capacity. (Reporter: Feng Guodong)