YICHANG - China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest water control and hydropower project, is scheduled to inject water into the lower reaches of the Yangtze River by the end of December or early January 2012.

It will serve the function of ecological water supply to ensure the agricultural, industrial and household water demand in middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in dry season, said the spokesman of the operation administration bureau with the Three Gorges Project on Friday.

As of Friday, the dam has run steadily for nearly two months since it reached its designed highest mark, a water level of 175 meters, he said.

Monitoring statistics show that on Friday, the water inflow into the dam was about 5,000 cubic meters per second, equal to the water discharged to the lower reaches.

The Yangtze River has its dry season each winter and spring. According to the project design, the dam will fluctuate in the dry season to release about 22.1 billion cubic meters of its storage capacity, with emergency scheduling in some extreme conditions.

The dam in central Hubei province completed its first full-capacity test last October.

Operating at full capacity should give full play to the generation of hydroelectric power, delivering water to the lower reaches to alleviate spring droughts, and containing water from summer flooding, as required by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The Three Gorges Project was launched in 1993 with a budget equivalent to $22.5 billion.