Abstract: The hydro-power developments of a river are favorable to meet the social requirements for water resources and electrical power.But simultaneously,the exploitation of water resource affets the local and regional eco-environment,especially the streamflow,the sediment transportation,the aquatic environment,and the limnobios,and so on.This paper reviews the recently studies on the river-hydro-power development and its impacts on the aforesaid aspects and discusses the significant issues in the further research.These include:(1)measures to adapt water explorations and regulations to the sustainable development theory,(2)quantifying researches on the impacts of hydraulic engineering establishment to the situation of river runoff and sediment,(3)the self-adaptation and self-restoration mechanisms of unbalanced ecosystems,(4)the threshold velocity of the flow for preventing eutrophication,and(5)the methods to deal with river-exploration threats to environment with the co-op-eration of reservoirs.