Abstract: Considering the flood control, the power generation, navigation and the impounding ratios, a multi-objective scheme of impounding in advance is developed. An optimization-simulation-test algorithm is proposed, and the optimal impounding schemes for the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) are derived using the multi-objective genetic algorithms. The results show that under the condition of ensuring flood safety, the optimal schemes can generate 17% extra hydropower energy, save 44% flood water resources and also improve the fullness storage and navigation guarantee ratios greatly. To maximize comprehensive utilization benefits on the premise of the flood control safety, the design flood routing method is well combined with the optimization method by scientifically dividing flood storage capacity into two parts and optimizing the reservoir impounding schemes, which provides a new way for studying the reservoir impounding.