BEIJING - Plans to raise the water level behind China's massive Three Gorges Dam to full capacity this month - which would mark the symbolic culmination of the decades-old project - have stalled amid a worsening drought and reports of increased landslide risks.
China has for years promoted the world's largest hydroelectric project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze River and to provide energy to fuel the country's economic boom.
Along the way officials have often steamrolled over complaints about the enormous environmental impact of the mammoth $23 billion, 410-mile-long reservoir that has displaced more than 1.4 million people.
Dam authorities had been increasing water storage since Sept. 15, with the goal of reaching the maximum height of 574 feet by early November, when the dam would be fully capable of generating the maximum amount of power. But on Nov. 2 the water reached 561 feet and then abruptly stopped - rising no higher.
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The explanation given by dam officials is that too little water is flowing from the upper reaches of the Yangtze - 34 percent less than last year - coupled with a deepening drought in the downstream provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi.
A spokesman for the State Council committee overseeing the Three Gorges project acknowledged last week it would be "difficult" to raise the water level to its peak height.
"Under the current conditions, less water is coming from the upper reaches and more water is needed to be released to the lower reaches to ease the drought situation. So it's difficult to reach that level," he said. He gave no timetable for when the maximum height would be reached.
The tacit postponement has also come amid urgent reports warning of heightened landslide risks.
Last week, investigative magazine Caijing revealed a report issued by a Chongqing political consultative body that warned that the risks of geological disasters, such as landslides, would increase as the water rose to its apex. It also said that the rising water levels were reviving old landslide fissures as the soil around the dam became more saturated and unsettled.
The Caijing report also cited a pre-flood inspection this year by officials in the Wanzhou district of Chongqing, the megacity near the reservoir, that identified 587 possible landslide spots.
