One year water quality monitoring results of 16 sections alongside the Three Gorges Reservoir area were presented. From the evaluation carried out using the integrated polluted index (P value), some characteristics of the water quality were obtained. The results showed that water quality of the Three Gorges Reservoir area was slightly polluted in 1999 mainly because of the discharge of urban sewerage and industrial wastewater. Main polluted city sections were along the river banks of Chongqing, Changshou, Fuling and Wanzhou. Evaluation also showed that there were 4 indicators that, to different extent, affected the water quality: colon bacillus, TP, non-ionic ammonia and oils.