The objective of the study is to review the research advances in potential impacts of climate change on water environment in lakes and reservoirs. The paper generalizes the effect of climate change on thermal stratification, ice duration, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, phytoplankton, and structure and function of ecosystem in lakes and reservoirs, as well as differences of climate-related responses to water environment are influenced in lakes and reservoirs. The advantages, disadvantages and development of methods in existing studies are discussed. The processes of potential impacts of climate change on water environment of lakes and reservoirs in climate zones are also discussed. It is significant impact of global warming on physical processes in lakes. The responses to global warming and change of rainfall in savannah climate and temperate maritime climate are higher than other climate zones. There are negative and positive impacts of climate change on water environment. The potential impacts of global warming on total phosphorus in each climate zones are analyzed. The result shows that lakes are tend to be eutrophic due to global warming in subtropical monsoon climate. Considering the spatial variations of climatic factors, regional impacts of climate change of different climate zones on water environment in lakes and reservoirs as the perspective on the subject is provided.