Environmental cumulative effects assessment of cascade hydropower development in the main stream of the upper typical reaches in Minjiang River

The impact brought by hydropower cascade development on the environment is increasingly significant. At the sustainable development request, the traditional environmental impact assessment exposes many shortcomings, while it has defects of its own. Thus the cumulative environmental effects assessment is introduced here. The comparison between traditional and cumulative environmental effects t assessment shows that: the cumulative environmental effects assessment can meet the requirements on sustainable development and also has a great necessity and practical significance in hydropower cascade development in river basin. Combined with the hydropower cascade development in the main stream of the upper typical reaches of Minjiang River, conduct the environmental study on the cumulative evaluation from the water environment, ecological environment and social environment. The results reveal: the cascade development of hydropower in the typical reaches from Lianghekou to Dujiangyan in the main stream of Minjiang River has generated a certain amount of cumulative impact on the environment, especially on water environment.