2003 is a year with the significance of a milestone for the construction of the Three Gorges Project. In this year, the second stage of the project passed inspection and acceptance and realized the three major goals of water storage, navigation opening and power generation smoothly. The comprehensive efficiency played its primary role. The project has smoothly come to the third stage in which the construction, production and operation are made simultaneously.

In 2003, the social and economic development in the reservoir area was rapid with the regional Gross Domestic Production (GDP) increasing by 11.9% compared with the previous year. The industrial structure was optimized continuously. All sectors in the area saw sustained and rapid growth and people living in the reservoir area saw steady improvement in their living standards and normal condition of public health. Settlement of migrants, restructuring of relocated enterprises and protection of the environment all went on smoothly.

In 2003, the overall ecological situation of the Three Gorges reservoir area remained unchanged generally. The climate was relatively warm with relatively much precipitation. Serious flood or water logging disasters did not occur in wide area. Water quality of the reservoir area was good on the whole, all at or superior to Grade III. Before water storage at the second stage, the bottom of the reservoir was better well cleaned, so there was no obvious change of water quality in the period of storing water, mostly at Grade III. Environmental quality in the construction area was good on the whole. Fish fry runoff volumes of the "four major home fishes" (grass carp, black carp, silver carp and flathead) dropped at different degrees. In Yibin and Hejiang sections at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, varieties of common fish and peculiar fish decreased a little compared with 2002. Along with the water storage up to 135 meters and continuous restructuring of agricultural industry, the area of cultivation and area under crops decreased by 9.0% and 6.6% respectively. Soil fertility of the farmland was at middle level and its heavy metal content was at the normal level.

In the key earthquake monitoring area and the head to middle part of the reservoir area, earthquake activities were mainly spreading in the belts of Wushan - Badong - Zigui, Yichang - Changyang in 2003 with frequency and intensity increasing a little.

In 2003, industrial wastewater discharged directly into the Yangtze River from 54 key industrial pollutant sources in the reservoir area amounted to 184 million tons, 27.8% over 2002. The major pollutants were COD and ammonia nitrogen. The urban wastewater directly discharged into the Yangtze River from 66 outlets amounted to 404 million tons, 26.6% over 2002. The major pollutants are total phosphorus, BOD₅and COD. Oil-containing wastewater discharged from vessels amounted to 421,200 tons, 17.6% lower than 2002, with treatment rate at 95%. Application amount of fertilizers in the reservoir area was in a dropping trend, but still not used with a rational ratio. The total application amount of pesticides decreased.