On the second day since the Three Gorges Reservoir began filling, the surging waters at the mouth of the gorges became quiet and ships could pass through smoothly.

As of 8:00 am on June 2, the water level at the site of Kuimen had reached 110.38 meters and kept rising steadily. Because Kuimen is the starting point of the narrow gorges, its swirling water always haunted passing ships with a variety of risks.

Qiao Zhengping, a senior official of the waterway administrative bureau of Chongqing Municipality said that thanks to the filling of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the water levels at Wushan and Yunyang counties are the same and ships could sail smoothly between the two counties and anchor at any time.

Previously, owing to the vertical distance between Wushan and Yunyang, ships navigating downstream between them could not berth at any point on the way.