About 100,000 people living in the Three Gorges Dam area could be relocated in the next three to five years due to the prospect of geological disasters like massive landslides and bank collapses, according to Liu Yuan, an official with the Ministry of Land Resources.

Villagers living in the Three Gorges Dam area move to other regions. [File photo]

The water level at the Three Gorges Dam reached the maximum level in 2010 to control flood and generate electricity to the fullest extent. However, this would lead to more geological risks in the next three to five years, China National Radio reported.

After the water levels were raised, there were 70 percent more landslides and bank collapses in the area than had been predicted, Liu said, adding that an increasing number of monitoring sites were seeing adverse effects from the maximum water level.

Over the past years, concerns over the dam's impact on environment kept growing. In January, China's environment ministry told hydropower developers that they must "put ecology first" and pay strict attention to the impact on local rivers and communities.

(Shanghai Daily contributed to this story.)