Forestry projects and upstream water control projects are helping keep silt at a stable level on the Yangtze River, particularly near the Three Gorges Dam.

Silt from the Three Gorges area has been around the 200 million ton-mark from 2003 and 2005 compared with around 380 million tons before 2002. The figure was 538 million in the years preceding 1946.

Jialing River, a key tributary of the Yangtze, brings an average of 40 million tons of silt a year into the country's longest waterway. Before 1976, the figure was 138 million.

More silt is being siphoned from the Three Gorges area and processed into useful materials for construction of highways or buildings in the cities of Chongqing, Wanzhou and Yichang in the vicinity of the Three Gorges water control project, according to Feng Zhengpeng, an official with the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.

"Less silt will greatly prolong the life span of the Three Gorges Project," said Feng. He warned that accumulated silt could decrease the storage capacity of the Three Gorges Reservoir, affect business in the port of Chongqing and endanger the power generation of the Three Gorges Project.

The Three Gorges Project is expected to generate 84.7 billion kwh of power annually when it is completed in 2008.

Source: Xinhua