The massive Three Gorges Dam has been ordered to release nearly five billion cubic metres of water in the next two weeks to help relieve a severe drought downstream amid grim forecasts of a prolonged dry spell.
The move came after Beijing made an unusual admission last week about the dam's dire consequences for the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
The State Council's order to release the water is believed to be part of Beijing's efforts to offset the dam's impact on navigation, irrigation and water supplies after the project was blamed for aggravating one of the mainland's worst droughts.
Deeply embarrassed, mainland authorities have flatly denied any link between the dam and the drought and barred further media coverage of the debate.
However, the drought - affecting millions of people in the seven central and eastern provinces and Shanghai and threatening grain output - looks likely to worsen despite a downpour over the weekend and Beijing's last-ditch effort to replenish hundreds of rivers, lakes and reservoirs downstream of the dam.
At full capacity, the dam holds back 39.3 billion cubic metres of water, so it has been ordered to release about 12 per cent of that amount. The China Three Gorges Corporation says the average annual run-off in the dam's catchment area is 451 billion cubic metres.
The meteorological authorities issued a grim warning yesterday, forecasting another week of high temperatures and little rainfall, Xinhua reported. 'Drought in some of the affected areas is likely to continue or even worsen,' the China Meteorological Administration said.