Abstract: For reducing the construction difficulty of the inlet/outlet of the lower reservoir and the discharge tunnel of Xianju pumped storage plant, it is necessary to find alternative programes for the original program and verify their rationality. Based on a hydraulic model with 150 scale， studies of hydraulic characteristics under different operating conditions for alternative programs for the inlet/outlet of the lower reservoir and the tunnel of Xianju pumped storage plant are carried out. Flow pattern and hydraulic characteristics for the alternative programs are analyzed in the study, and it is found that there are some bad flow patterns. An optimization program is developed for the connection with the forebay. The test results show that the hydraulic characteristics of the optimized program are feasible, and it can be taken as the base of science for the pumped storage projects under construction and operation.