Dam's power is seeping away

BEIJING - The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, might lose the battle against the worst drought to hit Central China in 50 years if no rains fall by mid-June.

"If the drought continues and there is no rainfall before June 10, the dam will lose the capacity to relieve the drought," Wang Hai, director of the transport division of the China Three Gorges Corporation, told China Daily on Friday.

The dam's water discharge rate is expected to reach 11,000 cubic meters a second on average (about 3,000 cubic meters a second more than the water flowing in) from May 25 to June 10, and its water level had fallen to less than 151.7 meters on Friday afternoon, according to the corporation.